United front for Irish fans as Red Devils come to town 

Interim Head Coach Michael Carrick signs an autographs for a young Manchester United fan.  Pic: INPHO/Grace Halton

High Noon in Kildare yesterday and traffic at leafy Carton House ground to a halt.

In Masters week, those trying to access either of the championship courses, The O’Meara or The Montgomerie, were made to wait.

So too was the Gahan Meats van, with its delivery of high-end beef for well-heeled hotel patrons.

Cars were double-parked along the narrow road flanking the pitches. One fan stood up on the fender for a glimpse of his heroes. Another tried, and failed, to shimmy up a tree.

Manchester United were in town and so too were their legions of supporters, the young, and not so young.

For several hours, they waited while training went on behind a thick green netting. The weather was pleasantly warm; the mood upbeat.

United are on a rattle, if not quite a roll, and the believers are back. They’ve never gone away, only now there is less embarrassment about wearing the club colours again. The Red Devils you know are best, after all.

Michael Carrick has dragged the club up by its bootlaces and there is giddy talk of Champions League return next season.

The under-stated Geordie has overseen a United revival. Seven wins, two draws, one loss.

That’s the form of title contenders and while that goal is beyond United this season, already there is optimism for 2026-27.

Carrick didn’t do media yesterday but he took a good 20 minutes to work his way up from the pitch past the phalanx of fans, signing here, stopping there. Selfies everywhere.

His players, Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo, later called on the club’s hierarchy to make his job permanent. ‘He knows the house,’ said Mbeumo.

United are on Irish turf for an Easter break before resuming in the Premier League against Leeds United on Monday night.

The old rivals are due to meet again in Croke Park on August 12 but fans should hold fire on shelling out as the friendly won’t go ahead if Leeds either win the FA Cup or lose their Premier League status.

The bookies reckon it’s probable that neither event will come to pass and Croker will be rocking for a 21st century clash of Lancaster red and Yorkshire white in a stadium with a bigger capacity than Old Trafford.

Posing for official photos with United players, Peter McKenna, the stadium director of Croke Park, may have been silently praying the game goes ahead. The maths involved are massive.

As happy faces clutched signed jerseys, and checked their phones for pics and clips, this was a reminder of the pulling power of United, a club with deeper links to this island than any other.

While Leeside can claim the decorated duo of Denis Irwin (529 appearances) and Roy Keane (480 appearances), along with FA Cup-winning captain Noel Eucharia Cantwell, and the much-missed Liam Miller, for decades Dublin provided a steady source of United backbone.

Johnny Carey, Liam Whelan, who would have been 91 last Wednesday, Johnny Giles, Tony Dunne, Gerry Daly, Kevin Moran, Frank Stapleton and Paul McGrath all learnt their trade on the cobbles and corners of Molly Malone’s fair city.

Many were spotted by ace scout and fellow Dub Billy Brehan, a former United ‘keeper.

Since Waterford’s John O’Shea hey-day, United have been shorn of their emerald hue, although Moran can lay claim to a feat like no other- apart from his unique triumphs of winning All-Irelands, FA Cups and playing in the finals of the World Cup and European Championships.

Moran, 70 this month, is the earliest-born player to have ever scored a goal in the Premier League. It happened in November 1992, against Southampton. He was 36.

Harry Maguire, only 33, could match Moran as a top flight player in his mid-30s, as he will continue to man the trenches for another season at least after agreeing a new one-year contract.

Maguire has been in a signing mood this week, and he did his share here, smiling away. Harry could have played for Ireland, through his grandparents. He’d have been a rock.

The United A-Listers, among them, Luke Shaw, Casemeiro, Bryan Mbeumo and Bruno Fernandes, all took their time as those who waited got their rewards.

The last through the funnel of love was the towering Benjamin Sesko, who bent down repeatedly to sign shirts and say cheese. The slender Slovenian is six foot, five inches tall.

Eventually, the pageant was over and the players were soon cossetted again in five-star luxury.

Barriers were removed and golfers, together with Gahan’s Meats, headed for their tee-time. When it comes to stopping the show, few turn heads like Manchester United.