Northern Ireland teenagers Dale Taylor and Jamie McDonnell will chase history in front of a record crowd in Wednesday night’s FA Youth Cup final with Manchester United.
Striker Taylor and midfield dynamo McDonnell will star for Nottingham Forest U18s as the City Ground outfit bids to win the coveted trophy for the first time in its history.
And a special atmosphere and stage awaits with more than 70,000 spectators expected to watch the showpiece at a sold-out Old Trafford.
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McDonnell and Taylor, who made his senior Northern Ireland debut in November, have played key roles in getting Forest to the club’s first ever Youth Cup final.
Taylor scored in last month’s 3-1 semi-final win over highly-fancied Chelsea, while McDonnell wore the captain’s armband against the London giants.
In previous rounds, McDonnell was also on target in a penalty shootout win over Cambridge United while Taylor scored against Bristol City and Peterborough.
Taylor, 18, who joined Forest from Linfield in 2020, has been training with Steve Cooper’s first team squad and has also travelled with the senior panel in recent weeks.
McDonnell, who has represented Northern Ireland at U19 and U17 level, is also highly rated, particularly by U18s coach Warren Joyce who is a respected former boss of Manchester United’s academy set-up.
United are the most successful club in FA Youth Cup history, winning the trophy 10 times, the last coming in 2011 when Paul Pogba starred for the club's U18s.
But Forest are on a 13-match unbeaten run in all competitions and Joyce says lifting the cup at the Theatre of Dreams would be a “massive achievement” for the club.
“You know how important it is to Man United, with the history of their football club, but it’s no less important for us,” he said.
“We’ve already achieved one goal, getting to the final, but that’s not enough for these boys. We want to go and win it.”
On Wednesday night’s final being played in front of a 70,000-plus attendance, Joyce said: “You don’t know what it’s going to be like until you walk out on the pitch and hear the noise.
“It’ll be a different experience for both sets of players.”
Wednesday night's FA Youth Cup final has a 7.30pm kick-off and can be viewed via The FA Player.
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