MANCHESTER UNITED…1
NEWCASTLE UNITED…0
Several times over the years in this space, mention has been made of the fact that yours truly was in the very fortunate position of having Sky Sports in at home before it became commonplace for that to be the case. Prior to that, being carried up the stairs in Mulvany’s here in Dunboyne a couple of times a year was as good as it got in terms of seeing Premier League football.
A couple of matches in particular stand out. I recall Niall Quinn scoring twice in a Manchester derby for City and Eric Cantona doing likewise for United before none other than Roy Keane drilled home a winner for the Red Devils in his first Manchester derby. A year before that, one was airlifted into the same premises when, from memory, Paul Ince got a late equaliser against Blackburn Rovers which ended up being crucial as United claimed the very first Premier League title.
At the other end of that scale, though, an absolute epic between the Uniteds of Manchester and Newcastle is one of the first Premier League matches recalled as being ingested beside the open fire in the old kitchen at home.
To say Newcastle played their rivals off St James’s Park that wintry Monday night all those years ago would be akin to pointing out farmers wouldn’t be major fans of the phenom formerly known as the Green Party!
However, The Magpies, on the night in question, came up against the only defencive display to get anywhere near that of Paul McGrath in the Giants Stadium in 1994, the original Great Dane, Peter Schmeichel.
The legendary custodian spent what felt like 89 minutes being peppered with shots from Rob Lee and Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand and David Ginola and Faustino Asprilla until the Red Devils managed one highly effecient break up field at the end of which Eric Cantona drilled a magnificent winner past Shaka Hislop.
Fast forward to the most recent meeting between the sides and – with one exception – it was like a repriese of that belter 30 years ago. That being that Patrick Dorgu’s wonder strike came early in the game.
The upshot of that, mind you, being that a similarly gargantuan rearguard action to all those years was required to ensure that the current Manchester United – whose form is up and down like a toilet seat – somewhat incredibly, rise to fifth in the table.