BARRY ROCHEon Liverpool's visit to the village of Dunmanway to play a local XI – and the scenes as the fans partied under a statue of Sam Maguire

LIVERPOOL MANAGER Rafa Benitez may have stayed at Anfield to prepare for tomorrow’s friendly against Atletico Madrid but there was a distinct air of Spanish fiesta when the Reds came to West Cork yesterday to take on local side Dunmanway Town.

With shops and houses decked out in the red of Liverpool and the green of the local club, Dunmanway was in a holiday mood yesterday as fans of the Reds thronged the Square around the statue of one Sam Maguire, who gazed down with a lofty disregard.

Obliging TV crews with renditions of You’ll Never Walk Alonethe Liverpool fans in the main seemed to be from West Cork and Cork city though there were a few who had ventured from further afield, like Shane Winters, his wife Deirdre and children, John (10) and Eimer (8).

“We’re from Ballina in Co Mayo and John and myself are big Liverpool fans and we’ve been over to Anfield for 20-30 games – my wife, Deirdre is from Teergay, near Macroom, so we had local contacts to get us tickets for the game,” said Shane.

Also looking forward to the match were Ray Hennessy from Bantry and Macroom-born Michael McSweeney, who reckoned his adopted home of Dunmanway, home of 1897 All-Ireland football finalists, the Dohenys, must be the staunchest GAA town in the country.

“It’s a great day – I don’t think Dunmanway has ever seen crowds like this – not even during the War of Independence and the Civil War when you had armies marching through here – there’s a great atmosphere and it’s great for the town,” said Michael.

Down at the grounds of Mary Immaculata Secondary School, impressively converted into a 7,000-seater stadium with temporary stands, the man who engineered the whole event, Dunmanway Town skipper and local doctor, David Hall, was savouring the moment.

“I would never have thought that this would have happened when I wrote to Liverpool a few months back but thanks to the will of Dunmanway and its people and our sponsors and the club, we’re finally here – it’s a sight to behold,” said Belfast native.

As for the game itself, Dunmanway Town, exchanging their all green jerseys for Celtic-like hoops, put up a creditable performance to go down 1-0 to a youthful Liverpool XI, of whom only Hungarian striker Krisztian Nemeth registered any recognition with the home crowd.

However, it was the elegant Dutch playmaker Vincent Weijl who impressed most with his vision and passing as he linked up well with Spanish starlet Daniel Pachecho, signed from Barcelona, and Argentinian winger Gerarado Bruna, bought from Real Madrid.

And when Pachecho broke the deadlock after just 10 minutes when he nonchalantly stroked home a 25-yard free-kick over the wall and in off the cross-bar past a stranded Brendan O’Connell, guesting for Dunmanway, it looked as if the Merseysiders were going to coast to an easy victory.

But credit to Dunmanway Town. Quickly finding their feet and with ex-Cobh Ramblers player Michael Mulconroy showing some great vision and no little skill, they should have scored after 25 minutes but striker Jerry McCarthy screwed a deft header narrowly wide.

Surviving a scare from a fine Bruna free-kick, Dunmanway missed another great chance on 33 minutes when Patrick McCarthy did well to hold off centre-half Chrys Mavinga and cross to the unmarked Stephen O’Donovan at the back post, only for his header hit the side-netting.

Both sides made changes for the second half and Liverpool looked the more likely to score, with Nemeth forcing two fine saves from O’Connell but with Mulconroy and McCarthy impressing, O’Donovan was denied when his looping shot was held by goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis.

After the game, Liverpool reserve coach John McMahon – brother of former Liverpool midfielder Steve McMahon – expressed himself well pleased with both the game and the reception his charges had received from the people of Dunmanway.

“The reception from the fans was fantastic and I thought Dunmanway were excellent on the day – they created a couple chances and gave us a good work-out – it was an excellent trip, the facilities here have been very good and I can’t see why we wouldn’t come back.”