My name is Michael Mc Auliffe. I got a letter in the post that said: You get to spend the day with Roy Keane and get to see Manchester United play in Old Trafford against Arsenal . You get 4 tickets to Manchester and tickets to a first class hotel. In the hotel you shall get to meet the team and the manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. And that is what the letter said. The next day when I went to school I told all my friends. They didn’t believe me, so, the next day I showed them the letter. Then they believed me and asked me who was going with me. Later in the day a lot of my friends asked me if they could come and I said no because I am bringing my family. All my friends were mad because they were not picked to come with me. With all my excitement I could not sleep. Since I couldn’t sleep I got up and started packing my bags. I said to myself that tomorrow is the big day and I need some sleep.

Finally, morning came. I woke up and I looked at my alarm clock. It was 8:50a.m. Oh no! we were meant to leave for the airport two hours ago. I yelled at my parents to get up and hurry on. My parents said "Oh sorry, love, calm down". We can still make the train. So we rushed down the stairs. We had no time for breakfast. We just ran to the car. The pitter patter of the raindrops splashed against the window as Dad drove like a mad man down the busy street. We made it to the train station. The rumble of the trains as they went back and forward on the tracks could be heard miles away. We hopped on just as the train began to move. Finally, we arrived in Manchester city train station and took a taxi to Old Trafford. We met Roy Keane and we played with him for a while in the field. He told my family and I to come into the dressing room. To our surprise we found the Manchester United soccer kit for the whole family inside waiting for us. Roy Keane said " see you back at the hotel after the match, Michael. "We went back to the hotel and got ready for the match. We called a taxi and it drove us there. We sat in the front row. The whistle blew and the two captains came face to face.

The referee flipped a coin. Keane said head but Adams won the toss. Finally Arsenal tipped off. After twenty minutes Viera passed the ball to Bergkamp and he ran down the wing and crossed a lovely ball to Henry and he headed the ball into the left top corner. At half time the score was 1-0 to Arsenal. Just after half time Seaman made a bad mistake by leaving his line and Roy Keane chipped the ball over Seaman’s head into the top corner. Seaman made a fool of himself. The crowd roared Keaneo Keaneo. With five minutes to go Man Utd won a free kick just outside the box. Beckham stood up take the free kick. He curled the ball the left top corner. The whole team went mad with excitement. The game had finished off 2-1 to Man Utd. Arsene Wenger was going mad on the sideline. We went back to the hotel. We watched the highlights of Roy Keane's brilliant goal. We stayed at the hotel and in the morning we took a plane back to Dublin. When we got home I went straight to bed. Next morning when I went to school I told all my friends about me meeting Roy Keane and about the match.

Section 1:    Newmarket Boys' N.S., Newmarket, Mallow, Co. Cork

Section 2:    Dromina N.S., Charleville, Co. Cork

Section 3:    Newtownshandrum N.S., Newtownshandrum, Charleville, Co. Cork