A YOUNG Irish Everton fan enjoyed an unforgettable first trip to see his beloved Blues in action, courtesy of the club.
11-year-old Ruairc broke down in tears after opening a letter from the Premier League club explaining he was set to travel from his home in Cork to Liverpool to watch the Toffees take on Bournemouth last Sunday, January 13th.
But, as the video of Ruairc’s reaction shared by his parents shows, they weren’t sad tears but rather tears of joy at finally seeing a long-held dream become a reality.
The experience proved to be an unforgettable one for the young Irish soccer fan, who was invited to go behind-the-scenes at the club and got to meet fellow countryman Seamus Coleman as well as manager Marco Silva and the rest of the Everton squad.
The Irish connections didn’t end there either, with former Toffees favourite and Republic of Ireland international Kevin Kilbane also on hand to give the youngster an all-access tour of Goodison Park that saw him meet and chat to the team.
Coleman then presented Ruairc with a pair of his boots, while he also got his Everton shirt and a ball signed by the Blues’ squad.
💙 | We all remember our first game... pic.twitter.com/CLOJsA56ub
— Everton (@Everton) January 14, 2019
The visit was part of Everton’s ongoing ‘My Debut’ initiative, set up to give young fan an unforgettable first visit to a game.
Ruairc's dad, Tim, accompanied his son on the trip to Merseyside, and was full of appreciation for Evertons’ efforts at creating an experience his son will remember "for years and years to come".
"It was my wife's idea to film him reading the letter," he said. "She knew he'd be so happy and thought it would be nice just to keep it as a souvenir.
"But his reaction and the way he got so overwhelmed was absolutely amazing so we shared it with a few friends on a Facebook page and it just snowballed. It completely blew us away.
"The club doing what they have done has just been absolutely amazing."
There was even better to come too, with goals from Kurt Zouma and Dominic Calvert-Lewin give Everton a 2-0 win, which Ruairc got to watch from the Howard Kendall Gwladys Street En.
He then got to enjoy a one-to-one meeting with manager Silva where he got to grill the Portuguese on his plans for the team.
"It's always been a dream of mine to come to Goodison," said Ruairc. "When I've been watching the team on the TV I've always hoped that someday I'd be able to come over and I loved it.
"Meeting the players was just brilliant, they were so nice, and it was good fun.
See More: Cork, Everton, Everton FC
