The greening of Gillespie Road: When Arsenal’s Irish held football in the palm of their hands

Ahead of Sunday's Premier League blockbuster between Manchester City and Arsenal, a gaggle of outrageously talented Irish men gathered in London N5 and recalled days when their collective talents held English and European football in thrall

ROLLS ROYCE: Arsenal's classy centre half David O'Leary pictured with a BMW car during a feature in London, England circa 1979. Pic: Duncan Raban/Allsport/Getty Images)

At Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, there was no match last Saturday. Only fond memories and Irish nostalgia. Outside, heat lamps tend to minor imperfections on the pitch; watching out from the Holloway Suite, hundreds of green Gunners are feasting on cottage pie, cabbage and leek and poached salmon, garnished with reminisces of an era when a gaggle of outrageously talented Irish men held English and European football in thrall.

Getting to the stadium from the Arsenal tube station is only three minutes east along Gillespie Road and up Drayton Park to the concourse leading to the ground; in the '70s and '80s, it was a minute or two west from the underground and up Avenell Road for the front door at Highbury.