Dream comes true as Islandeady schoolboy is Anfield mascot

A dream came true for Islandeady schoolboy Senan Feeney recently when he walked out with the Liverpool team for their Premier League game with Arsenal at Anfield. The nine-year-old accompanied Virgil Van Dijk onto the famous pitch in front of 53,267 passionate supporters and 200 million television viewers around the world.

Seated in the crowd were Senan’s proud parents Martin and Aoife and his sisters, Quinn (7) and Rocha (5) and they basked in the excitement as Anfield rose to greet the two teams and the accompanying mascots.

“The experience was brilliant. We enjoyed every single second. Senan is walking on air ever since. To walk out with Virgil Van Dijk at Anfield is something he won’t forget for a while,” the proud father explained.

Interestingly, Senan’s experience should have happened earlier in his life, but the Covid pandemic intervened and disrupted cherished plans.

“Senan won the trip to Anfield some time ago. It was a competition where kids had to re-create a goal celebration and himself and Quinn re-enacted one by Mo Salah and Alisson.

“He was all set to go over then to walk out with the team but a few days before we were due to travel we got word that the team were locked down because of Covid. They said we could come over anyway and enjoy the game and they’d be in touch again when Covid was passed. We thought we’d have to wait a few weeks or a month or two at the most, but Covid had other ideas.”

However, the Liverpool FC administrators kept in touch with the Feeneys, telling them they had not been forgotten about and then before Christmas they sent an email saying to be ready to travel in springtime.

“We got an email lining things up for the Arsenal game, but we didn’t tell Senan immediately in case something went wrong again. Then, when we broke the news to him, he was unbelievably excited,” Martin added.

Plans were finalised and all five Feeneys headed off for a weekend they’ll never forget. A concert in Manchester on Friday evening, followed by a theme park visit on Saturday and the Anfield experience on Sunday.

“We had a brilliant time and seeing Senan walk out with Van Dijk capped it all off. He was very nervous in the tunnel waiting for the players. He was hoping to walk out with either Van Dijk or Salah and when Van Dijk came over to him he was over the moon. In fairness to Van Dijk he told Senan not to be nervous and to enjoy the experience and that put him at ease. He loved every second of it and we cannot say enough thanks to all the people at Liverpool who made the day so special,” Martin concluded.

Since returning to Mayo, Senan has been asked to tell his story everywhere he goes, especially at Ballyheane U-11 and Islandeady GAA training sessions where his time with one of the best defenders in the world has been a hot topic of conversation.