On Saturday afternoon at Deepdale, two opposition players looked across the tunnel and started laughing. It was not the first time they had played against each. Though, previous to Saturday, it had mostly been in their back gardens.
Preston beat QPR 2-1 at the weekend. Playing at left back for Preston was Carnmore's Greg Cunningham. In midfield for QPR was his Galway neighbour Ryan Manning.
After the game, Cunningham posted a picture of the two swapping shirts.
Proud day for me today to line up against my next door neighbour @ryanmanning4. We've come along way from the back garden to the Champ!👊🏻⚽️ pic.twitter.com/GSc41xWcbG
— Greg Cunningham (@Cunningham_17) February 25, 2017
On Tuesday night's Off The Ball on Newstalk, Cunningham said it was a moment he will always cherish.
It was a proud moment for me, I hadn't had a kick around with him for the guts of 10 years. It was quite surreal in the tunnel, lining up against him. It's a moment that I'll cherish.
We'd a good laugh in the tunnel. Obviously, it's serious before the game but I just looked over, saw him and started laughing. It's the stuff that you do dream of - playing with your friends or your neighbours. It happened last weekend. It was a nice time for both of us.
It's even better to get the bragging rights in our first game against each other. It was a great moment for both of us and my family were over as well and a lot of people from Galway.
Those kickabouts in the back garden also featured both players' siblings, themselves accomplished footballers too. Ryan Manning's brother Ronan recently signed for Galway United's U19 side.
Between Dan and my other brother Stephen and Ryan's got a younger brother Ronan who's a great footballer as well. We used to round up the neighbours in the back garden, we'd a nice pitch set up. We used to play there until it got dark and we had to go in.
