Darius Kierans, manager of Drogheda, was approached by a Rangers scout during and after the summer Foyle Cup in Derry, where 17-yearold Pete McMahon scored the winning goal in the plate final against Bournemouth.

The Scottish giants wanted to offer Pete a trial, but when Kierans rang the boy's father Paddy with the "good news" he didn't get the response he expected.

"It would be a bigger honour if it was Celtic, " Paddy told the Drogheda Independent. "But although Pete is a big Celtic fan, he was very happy when I told him. But we live in Castleblayney, three miles south of the border, which is very awkward. We haven't been victims, but there's a serious sectarian problem where we are. People would be robbing the house if he went to Rangers."

The McMahons returned to Monaghan in 1999 after 34 years in England, where Pete had a trial with Blackburn Rovers and once scored 57 goals in a single season for Evergreen, an underage club in Watford where he was born. After spells with Monaghan United and Dundalk, Pete went to Drogheda as it gave him Premier Division football in the Dublin & District League.