Young Navan girl's dream come true at Arsenal vs Manchester United match

One young Navan's girl's dream came true at the weekend when she met her idol, Katie McCabe at the Emirates Stadium in London and the Irish captain gave her jersey and signed it too.

Saoirse Power (11), a member of the Parkvilla Under 12s team travelled to London for the Arsenal v Manchester United game on Saturday and was delighted to see Arsenal secure second place in the Women's Super League with a victory over Manchester United, who finished third.

Saoirse travelled with her Dad, Eric who coaches the Parkvilla Ladies and the Girls under 12 team, and she was determined to meet the Arsenal and Ireland player.

“She absolutely loves football, she has been playing with Parkvilla since she was four years old. She is obsessed with Katie McCabe and she had one mission when she was going over and that was to get her autograph,” her mother Natasha explains.

Saoirse had an Irish flag with Katie's name on it and she managed to attract the player’s attention.

“Katie had been talking to two people and she saw the flag and walked over. She removed her jersey and Katie signed it, She was really lovely, very friendly. Saoirse was blown away by her. It was a dream come true.

“She had been desperate to go over ad watch her play and her dad said he'd bring her. It is funny really because Eric is a huge Queens Park Rangers fan, so it broke his heart to have to go to the Emirates Stadium.

“Saoirse is a huge Arsenal fan and follows them religiously and, of course Katie is her hero because she is Irish and she loves the Irish team.”

Natasha and Eric have two other children, Erin (9), and Cian (17), both of whom played with Parkvilla for a period before moving onto other interests.

The family lived in England for a while, before moving to Navan and Eric had coached football teams in England. “He got involved with Park Villa when we moved to Navan. “

The signed jersey now has pride of place in Saoirse's bedroom - on a hanger suspended from the ceiling so she can see it clearly. A student of St Joseph’s Mercy Primary, Saoirse skipped off to school this week “looking forward to telling all her friends about her meeting with the great Katie McCabe.”