President Michael D Higgins welcomed members of the 1991 FAI Cup winning Galway United team to Áras an Uachtaráin in Friday with manager Joey Malone and the majority of the team that beat Shamrock Rovers at the reception which was intended to mark the 25th anniversary of the game.

Family members represented some of those who could not attend and a couple of presentations were made to the President. “We’ve lost Eamonn (Deacy) and Tommy (Keane) but it was a wonderful way for the rest of us to get together,” said Johnny Glynn, the team’s captain and scorer of the winning goal. “There aren’t many football teams that have been at the house of their president and we were honoured to be invited.

“There was a lovely reception and then he had a fantastic piece written about it all. At the end, he brought us into his library and we watched the goal on YouTube. That put the cap on it,” he said.