‘Must be the first time in Europe this season’: Manchester United stars train at Carton House

“What’s the crowd for,” asked the man delivering a van load of fish. “Manchester United are staying here.” “Jaysus! Must be their first time in Europe this season.” Rude.

There was, happily, a warmer greeting for the squad from the throng of youngsters waiting to see the players arrive at training at Carton House on Tuesday morning, although it’s doubtful that many – or any – of them have any actual memory of the club winning big things.

It’s 13 years, after all, since the Premier League last featured on United’s roll of honour, so they’ll be dependent on parents and other elders to regale them with tales of the glory days.

That didn’t dampen their enthusiasm, though; the response to the appearance of Bruno Fernandes enough to clear any sinuses. It was akin to a Westlife concert – and as coincidence would have it, who was inside waiting to watch the session, only Nicky Byrne.

“Woody! Woody!” he hollered, and with that, the Woody in question, Jonathan Woodgate, one of Michael Carrick’s coaching team, came over and gave his former Leeds United youth team comrade a bear hug.

Also looking on were Paul Flynn and Carla Rowe, the Dubs with just the 12 All-Ireland medals between them, the pair somewhat more familiar with Croke Park than the United players who will appear there on August 12th when they play Leeds in a friendly.

It’s unlikely, though, that one of their Brazilians will be there. “One more year, Casemiro”, went up the cry from a young fella when the midfielder warmed up before the session, a chant heard at United games ever since the player announced that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season.

Casemiro revealed recently that the chant makes his wife cry, although whether that’s because of the affection shown towards her husband, or a fear of having to live in Manchester for another year, wasn’t clear.

Between United’s last game, against Bournemouth, and their next, against Leeds on Monday, the squad will have had a 24-day break, their failure to qualify for Europe this season and their early exits from the League and FA Cups ensuring they are well rested in advance of their push to book a slot in the Champions League. A canny strategy.

They arrived in Kildare on Monday for, presumably, a change of scenery, as well as a promotional push for that Croke Park friendly. Their booking caused some difficulties for the Armagh panel, who had come to Carton House for a training camp in advance of their championship game against Tyrone, with the pitches set up for soccer and not Gaelic football. Armagh’s Oisín Conaty was magnanimous, though. United, said the Liverpool fan, needed the training more than Armagh.

After the session, Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo spoke to the media, a large chunk of which had travelled from England, Mbeumo polite enough to pretend he’d heard of Croke Park. “Playing Leeds is a big rivalry for the club, it’s going to be good to play this kind of game especially in this historic stadium and big stadium. We have a big community of fans here. We’re very excited.”

The Cameroon international, who joined United from Brentford last summer in a €75 million deal, also paid tribute to the current Brentford gaffer, Keith Andrews. “He’d been a big part of our success last season, he looked after the set pieces but he had already the capacity to talk, to motivate, to bring the best out of ourselves. I’m not really surprised by what he’s doing this season, especially because they kept a strong group. I am really happy for what he is doing.”

Who will be United’s gaffer next season? “It’s not for us as players to decide,” said Mbeumo and Diallo, but the pair paid tribute to Carrick and the impact he has had at the club since taking over as the interim manager in January. “He knows the journey of the club, he knows how to talk to us as well, I think it’s been easier because he knew the house,” said Mbeumo.

And with that, they headed to lunch, presumably skipping the fish.

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