Fr John still has

Ahead of the FA Cup final, Eamonn Fitzgerald chats to Manchester United fan Fr John Ahern. The Firies priest has supported United

since his days as parish priest in Salford.

There is something special about a local derby in sport and we can look forward to two big ones tomorrow afternoon, on both sides of the Irish Sea.

Kerry will travel to Páirc Uí Chaoimh to exorcise that untypically dreadful performance versus Mayo and get back on track in defence of the Sam Maguire. More about that later, but first we set sights on Wembley and the Manchester derby involving City and United in the FA Cup final.

No need for the eircode on my journey to Firies to locate a man who can give me a very personal insight into tomorrow’s big soccer game.

The green and gold flag was fluttering in the gentle breeze as the smiling octogenarian guided me into his driveway.

“Pull in there and we’ll talk about the colours. Welcome to Moulacliffe,” said Fr John Ahern.

Townlands within a parish are important and very much so now with the demographic changes in Firies village. It is no longer a rural village but more like a small town and growing all the time.

No doubt the flag is up for Kerry.

“That is true,” Fr Ahern replied, “and it is always there, but the green and gold colours are not exclusive to Kerry.

“I was reared in the Kerry football tradition and there's a strong Kerry connection around here in Firies. Dr Eamonn O’Sullivan’s people were from Firies. Joe Sheahan was a great 40 yards man, and the great Breen connection with the 1913 All Ireland winning team will never be forgotten. Then there’s Mick Galwey, the Kerry junior and rugby international. And there are more.”

Very interesting but I am here to talk about the FA Cup final. Still the green and gold.

“Those were the Manchester United colours when they started out as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878. That was even before the GAA was founded. They were in Clayton, Manchester. The big change came in 1902 when a club meeting decided on their new name - Manchester United - and they moved to Old Trafford. Over the years there were developments but the Old Trafford location has not changed.”

Fr Ahern’s first parish after ordination in 1960 was the Salford diocese, which incorporates Old Trafford. He was in a very privileged position having Old Trafford within his ministry area, but it must have been quite a shock for a young priest coming from a strong Kerry GAA background to be in this soccer mad Manchester?

“No not at all. Of course, I was a keen follower of football in Firies and in Kerry, but when I was a garsún I used to go for the newspaper for my aunt and she would leave me read the back page of the Irish Press. That was a sports page and you would only get a small little account of the matches of the big clubs in England but United was obviously the one that I was interested in.

“I followed soccer from that day on. I can remember listening to accounts of the matches on the Pye wireless and of course the big shock was in 1958 with the Munich disaster. I felt so bad that day that I couldn't face school in the Sem.

“I always had an interest in the soccer and of course when I went to Manchester it was just fantastic. United would be at home every two weeks and at that time you could watch the Manchester United reserves who played on a Monday night and you had some great players who were on their way to the first team.

“It's very different now of course with Sky Sports in particular because the television coverage determines when the games are played, unlike in the sixties when the games were played every Saturday home or away. Now you have midweek games. TV companies and advertisers determine when the game goes ahead.

Why does he think that so many Irish people follow United as if they were their team?

“Well, a lot of the Irish worked in the Manchester/Lancashire area and they got affiliated to United - even before they became United and moved to Old Trafford. United supporters at that time were predominantly Catholic and City were mainly Protestant.”

Did he know any of the players or the big personalities at that time?

“Well, I can remember as a young priest in 1960 I’d have been working right through the week with masses on Sun-