Laois native Andrew Whelan is one of Robbie Brady's biggest fans.
Last Christmas, Whelan was given a present to go and see Brady play for Norwich, against Cardiff in early February. There was a slight catch though. Brady left the club in late January to join Burnley.
Once known of Andrew's predicament, Burnley said they would be happy to help out, as did the FAI. In the last few days, the two finally met in Dublin.
Brady is to captain Ireland on Tuesday night against Iceland, after missing the Wales game through suspension. He offered Andrew the chance to be a mascot for the game too.
Robbie Brady will captain @FAIreland for Tuesday night's friendly against Iceland, Martin O'Neill has revealed. #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/L3SDBhKG9r
— Newstalk Sport (@NewstalkSport) March 27, 2017
As part of Three’s #TheCallUp campaign, Brady was shown a project Andrew completed in school, where he had to pick his favourite sporting hero. In the project, he charted the path of Brady's career, from Manchester United as a youth team player, to Burnley, and also his career at international level.
Once Brady found out that he was Andrew's sporting hero, the Irish star revealed that he looked up to Ryan Giggs when he was younger.
"I was left footed like him, and I wanted to be just like him", Brady admitted.
Watch out for the duo on Tuesday night, as Ireland play Iceland for the first time since September 1997. In that game, Off the Ball presenter won the first of his 110 international caps.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
