And with Moyola Park one of the venues for thje tour, local football fans are in for a treat with some of the stars of yesteryear from Manchester United making the trek to Castledawson.

Over 12,000 lucky football fans enjoyed some spectacular football being played in the Irish Tour last week by a host of sporting greats including Lee Sharpe, John Barnes, Sammy McIlroy, John Aldridge, David May, Bruce Grobbelaar, Jason McAteer and Mark Wright.

Competition was fierce, with both Liverpool and Manchester United Legends playing to win.

After locking horns at Terryland Park, Galway on May 24, the Legends drew 1-1; with Ben Thornley scoring the opener for Manchester United as the last 10 minutes approached celebrity Liverpool team manager Tommy Tiernan brought himself into the action and scored the equalizing goal for Liverpool.

Moving to Cork, Deiniol Graham and Peter Davenport secured a victory of 2-1 for Manchester Utd at Turners Cross on May 29. Fans will soon be able to catch highlights of this game on Sky Sports 1, 2 and 3 over the next month.

Manchester United’s glory was soon to be outshone in Dublin on May 31 however, when Liverpool’s John Aldridge and Mark Walters romped home with a 4-0 victory at Tolka Park.

Michael D Higgins T.D said: “Not only are the Legends huge in footballing terms, the atmosphere at these matches has been nothing short of electric.

“Obviously that’s thanks to the skill of the players, the showmanship of the celebrity managers – even the entertainment from world champion football jugglers.

“But it’s been the interaction between the players and the local fans – with their huge welcome and appreciation which has made these matches such memorable days out for family and friends.”

The action’s now set to move North from July 20-26. And as Colin Telford, GrowSport explains, these are games that fans just won’t want to miss:

“After the Galway, Cork and Dublin games the Legends really are on a roll. There’s no doubt that expectation is high after recent performances – and the Northern Ireland tour is sure to set the bar even higher. Both teams are just champing at the bit to get onto the pitch in July – and you can bet that these guys will be putting on quite a show.”

Fans who don’t want to miss out on the match of the season will need to act fast to snap up their tickets from Ticketmaster outlets / www.ticketmaster.ie. See www.growsport.com for further details.