Local men help with young lad’s Man Utd shirt mission

SOME kind-hearted locals helped make a young football fan’s New Year, when they persuaded a Manchester Utd player to gift the lad his shirt.

Friends Brendan Molloy from Strabane and Andy Patton from Sion Mills had been attending Manchester Utd’s game against Burnley at Old Trafford on Thursday when they noticed a youngster stepping around with a banner. In large painted letters the banner read, ‘Scott McTominay, can I have your shirt?’

“How it happened was, the youngsters sometimes come down to the front but they can’t hang around and they have to go back to their seats,” Andy explained.

“It was coming to the end of the game and the young lads came down but were sent back to their seats. I was there with Brendan Molloy and his son and at one stage we called the lad back and held him up onto the barrier. The sign he had was bigger than himself.

“I held him with my right hand and pointed to the sign with my left and Brendan was behind him holding him up – it was comical. But in fairness, Scott (McTominay) saw him and came over. And the lad got the jersey.”

Footage of the banner and the gifting of the shirt were captured on TV coverage following the game, which saw Manchester run out 3-1 winners.

Andy also remarked that because of where his seats are situated in Old Trafford, right on the pitch, he sees a lot of youngsters receiving gifts like shirts and sometimes even the match ball.

However after Thursday night’s game against Burnley, Manchester supporters group, The True Red Devils commented on a post Andy had made of the incident on Facebook. This, in turn, led the older brother of the lad who received the jersey to get in touch.

“He sent me a message saying thanks for the help getting the shirt the other night,” Andy continued.

“He said his brother was still on cloud nine and that it had made his New Year. It was his first Premier League game.”