There's something very Irish about trying to claim a little bit of association with someone else's glory. Just remember back to the embarrassing hoopla surrounding Barack Obama's Moneygall heritage.
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This evening's RTÉ News featured some footage of World Cup Final goalscorer Mario Götze (wearing no.7 in the above picture) playing for Germany U16s against their Irish counterparts in Listowel back in 2008. Götze crossed for a goal finished by Christopher Mandiangu just two minutes into the game.
The game finished 1-1 with Sean Skelly grabbing an extremely dodgy late equaliser for Ireland (I know this because I was there.) The German team on the day also featured new Barca keeper Marc-André ter Stegen.
