It was lovely to welcome Brookvale Young Boys FC from the village where I grew up in county Armagh to St Helens borough, where they enjoyed a series of games with one our fantastic local youth football teams Rainford Rangers.

Brookvale YBFC have visited Merseyside several times over the past 20+ years and last year Rainford Rangers visited Ireland. It was a pleasure to see two good games, both keenly contested, and I was delighted to present the ‘player of the match’ awards.

I am proud of this strong and special connection between these two clubs. My thanks to Paul Duffy and everyone at Rainford Rangers for their fantastic hospitality – which was a credit to the village and our whole borough – and to Brian Sloan and everyone at Brookvale YBFC who were great ambassadors for their club and community.