Apparently this was sour cup final, and there was even a trophy at stake. Something called the Boyle Sports cup. Which unfortunately went to Manchester United after a farcical end to the game and a penalty shoot out.

This pre-season game attracted a crowd of over 80,000 to Croke Park in Dublin, and there was a good Leeds contingent inside the stadium. We’ve always had a good following in Ireland, though a few went over from Leeds, and there was one banner proclaiming that the Bergen Whites had travelled all the way from Norway!

We had the honour of playing in the first ever foot ball match at the home of the Gaelic Games Association (Hurling and their version of Football) . For decades the GAA would ban anyone caught playing ‘foreign sports’ like football and rugby, but this tradition was cast aside when Lansdowne Road was being renovated in 2007 and the Ireland teams in both non-Gaelic codes needed somewhere to play their home games.

There was a distinctly experimental look to the Leeds side who began the game, and after a bright opening our defence started to look a bit vulnerable whenever Man United broke downfield. Fat boy Mbeumo was always lively, and the first goal came when he got the better of Bijol on our right and skipped past him down the wing.

Muharemovic might have done better with the cross (in the midst of an otherwise decent performance) and once the ball had gone through his legs, Zirkzee was left with plenty of space to pick his spot and shoot past Trafford. Several times they were threatened to extend this lead, but Trafford made decent saves from Mbeumo and Zirkzee, though there was also an Mbeumo shot that crashed back off the bar.

It was a decent debut for our club record signing, who communicated well with his defence, and showed some good distribution, especially with a long throw downfield to Aaronson to set an attack going. As well as looking comfortable doing the day job of keeping out a few shots, as mentioned above.

It has to be said that our equaliser was a little against the run of play, but for once Aaronson managed to finish after being sent through on goal by a fine move. Apart from that there was a trademark Dan James blaze over the bar (which I might excuse as he was played on the left, so wanted to cut inside and use his stronger foot) but not much else to get excited about.

So we were a bit fortunate to go in level at the break, but improved after sending out what was very nearly an entirely different team for the second half. There were ten changes, with Bournauw the perhaps surprising choice of the only player to play the full ninety minutes. Early in the half we had a free kick from a decent position, but Stach’s shot was directed straight at the keeper.

Okafor and Wilson were looking lively, but the final ball towards Calvert-Lewin didn’t always match the quality of the approach. There was an excellent Jastin shot from the edge of the box which forced Mee into a fine save, though he had less trouble when Alfie Cresswell tried to curl one past him from a similar position.

Ferndandez thought he’d put Man U in front near the end, but his joy was cut short ny a linesman’s flag. There was no VAR here, but I reckon it would have upheld the original decision, albeit by a narrow margin. As we came into the last few minutes the game ended in face, as some of the young fans in the Man U section got over excited and ran on the pitch for some selfies with the players.

The security did nothing about it, which only encourage a few more to run on. Eventually the referee had enough of it, and decided to end the game then and there, and go straight to a penalty shootout. Harry Wilson missed our second penalty, but there was a reprieve when Fernandez put his effort wide after trying to be too clever.

Which meant we went into sudden death, and unfortunately Justin didn’t match the quality of his shot during the 90 minutes, and could only crash this one against the bar. All of which meant that Man U would win the contest if Mazraoui could convert their 6th penalty, and he duly did. So it wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but we can’t read too much into this game, when neither side were close to their first choice XI at any point.

The best I can say is that all our signings looked decent, and can only improve once they develop a better understanding with their new team-mates. I can wait for the season proper to start.

Reuters