Man Utd fan Jack gets to meet all his heroes

JACK Daly has some story to tell his friends.

The young Manchester United fan got to high five Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku, meet his favourite player Victor Lindelof and get his photo taken with Fred the Red in the United dressing-room – and all thanks to a surprise early tenth birthday present from his uncle Niall O'Regan.

Sports-mad Bandon boy Jack (9) plays soccer locally with Bandon, and is also involved in athletics, golf, hockey and tennis, and last week he was the envy of all Manchester United fans young and old when he was a mascot for the Red Devils' pre-season friendly against Sampdoria at the Aviva Stadium.

With his tenth birthday in early September, Jack had no idea that his uncle Niall O'Regan – who works as Coach Education Manager with the FAI – had a huge surprise up his sleeve.

‘I only found out a few days before so I was very excited,' Jack said.

As it turned out Jack was a mascot for Italian side Sampdoria but that also worked to the Bandon boy's advantage.

‘You don't get to choose who to be mascot for, you get allocated a team, and when I got Sampdoria it was cool because all the Man United players shook my hand then,' he explained.

Meeting United superstars Pogba, Lukaku and Lindelof was a highlight for Jack who walked onto the Aviva pitch with Sampdoria and Italian international Fabio Quagliarella, who he said was very nice.

‘The whole thing was brilliant, I'll never forget it,' he beamed.

Jack is the son of Dan and Zeta, and has a younger sister Emma, and he'll be crossing his fingers that United can deliver the goods this season.