When Michael met Mbappé!

When one of the world’s most famous soccer players admires your football boots, you could be forgiven for wanting to wear them forever!

Seven and a half year old Michael McGlinchey from Tullamore could scarcely believe it when French striker, Kylian Mbappé, gave him a ‘high five’ and admired his football boots in the Aviva Stadium before kick-off at the Ireland v France Euro 2024 qualifier.

All of the young soccer-mad boy’s dreams came true when he was selected as one of the mascots for the game on Monday.

And not only did he get to meet Mbappé, but he also got to meet President Michael D. Higgins.

“It was a case of Michael meets Michael when he was introduced to the President” said his proud mother, Chloe, this week, who added that her son is still “on cloud nine” after what was one of the most unforgettable nights of his life.

Michael was chosen as one of Ireland’s mascots for the Ireland V France game due to the fact that his family are lifelong soccer supporters. “My Dad, Aidan, has been going to soccer games all his life and I’m involved with the Supporter’s Club” explained Chloe “so it was such a huge honour to have Michael chosen to be a mascot and my Dad barely slept a wink the night before the game because he was so excited.”

Michael’s grandparents, Aidan and Nuala, along with his mother and her boyfriend, Wally Murphy, all travelled up to the Aviva Stadium on Monday evening while his proud grandmother, Maura, who is 96, watched proceedings from the comfort of the family home on the New Road.

“When we got to the dressing room in the Stadium, each child had their own kit and their own seat with their name on it” said Chloe, who explained that half the mascots got an Irish kit while the other half were kitted out in the French colours of blue and white.

Michael McGlinchey got to stand in front of French centre back, Ibrahima Konaté, who also plays for Liverpool in the Premier League.

“He told us afterwards that Mbappé high fived him and all the other kids and he also told us that Mbappé admired his ‘lovely football boots’ so I’ll probably never be able to get them off his feet now” joked Chloe.

Having attended the France V Ireland Euro qualifier game in Stade de Lyon in the south of France in 2016, when he was just nine months old, young Michael McGlinchey is a bit of a veteran at this stage.

The young star was the toast of his class in Gaelscoil An Esicir Riada when he returned to his class on Tuesday morning, but he was totally unfazed by all the fuss and took all the compliments in his stride.

With all the confidence of a seven and a half year old, he told his mother on the way home from Dublin on Monday night that, while he was “a bit scared” of walking out in front of a crowd of over 50,000 spectators in the Aviva Stadium he can’t wait to “do it all again” when he gets bigger!