Irish family Utd behind ace Harry

NEWPORT COUNTY midfielder Harry Charsley is counting on his Irish cousins to put their support for Manchester United to one side in today’s big FA Cup clash.

And just to be sure that they’ll back the League Two minnows, he has got them tickets in the home end at Rodney Parade.

“My cousins from Ireland are coming over,” said the former Ireland Under-21 man (above, right).

“They will be flying in from Dublin. They support Man United, but hopefully not on Sunday. It will be great to have them over. But they’ll be sitting with the Newport fans.”

Charsley, born and raised on Merseyside, won’t be short of motivation this evening.

The 27-year-old admitted: “To be honest, I don’t like Man United really. I was brought up that way. I was more Liverpool. It would be great to get a result.”

Charsley is a former Everton prospect who spent 15 years at Goodison Park before moving to Mansfield in 2020.

He made his firstteam debut under Sam Allardyce in a Europa League win against Apollon Limassol in 2017 and won numerous underage awards and titles while at the club.

His Irish roots are on both sides of his family, with Charsley explaining: “My mum is Irish so she was really proud, as was I to represent Ireland.

“Obviously my dad’s mother is Irish as well. So I’ve quite a big connection.”

He lined out with future senior internationals such as Josh Cullen, Jamie Mcgrath, Ryan Manning, Callum O’dowda, Darragh Lenihan and Alan Browne at international level. And while at Everton he learned as much as he could from Seamus Coleman (above).

“Seamus was a really good role model for the young lads. He’d have time for everyone really,” said Charsley.

Looking ahead to today’s visit of United, he said: “Anything can happen, can’t it? I don’t know if there is a good or bad time to play anyone, it just depends on the day. At least we know it’s at Rodney Parade, so that’s going to be an advantage.”