DAMIEN RICHARDSON is confident his Airtricity League XI can hold their own against Scottish club Celtic and Premier League giants Manchester City in next month’s inaugural Dublin Super Cup.

Champions League winners Inter Milan are to head for Dublin to play in a four-team tournament next summer.

Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick will miss the start of the season after injuring his ankle in Wednesday’s friendly in Dublin.

Nani is convinced Manchester United are finally starting to see his true value.

JOHN O’SHEA has revealed that it was Shay Given who inflicted the injury which wrecked most of the Waterford man’s season at Manchester United.

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has said the number of fans of the club at last night's friendly marking the opening of the new Aviva Stadium shows "the romance of United".

Michael Owen has been handed a surprise start for Manchester United in their pre-season warm-up against an Airtricity League XI in Dublin tonight.

Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen have both been included in the squad for Manchester United’s friendly against an Airtricity League XI at the new Aviva Stadium in Dublin tonight.

YOUNG Bohemians hotshot Paddy Madden is relishing the opportunity of sharing the pitch with one of the game’s greatest marksmen when an Airtricity League XI take on Manchester United in football’s inaugural outing at the Aviva Stadium tomorrow.

WITH the smell of drying paint in my nostrils and freshly-laid grass under my feet, I giddily surveyed the new Lansdowne Road stadium when it swung open its just-hung doors recently.

WAYNE ROONEY is in line to face an Airtricity League XI in the first football match at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on August 4.

THE smells assaulted the senses every bit as much as the sights.

LIMERICK, both club and city, are continuing to pile on the pressure in a bid to get the FAI to sanction the proposed friendly game against Barcelona at Thomond Park on July 31.

LIMERICK FC are furious that plans to host a glamour friendly against La Liga giants Barcelona at Thomond Park have been scuppered by the FAI as it emerged that the Association has itself been in negotiation with the Catatlans to bring them to the new Aviva Stadium.

MANCHESTER UNITED will make a little bit of Irish sporting history when they provide the opposition, against an Airtricity League XI, for the first football match to be hosted at the new Aviva Stadium on Lansdowne Road on August 4.

Manchester United will play a pre-season friendly match against an Airtricity League XI on Wednesday 4 August at the Aviva stadium in Dublin, it has been confirmed.