Shamrock Rovers have today announced two friendly matches against reserve sides from Manchester United and Arsenal at Tallaght Stadium in the Platinum One Challenge. The tournament will run from August 15th until August 22nd.

The visiting sides will both bring their up and coming young stars to Tallaght Stadium. Former Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said that the new event promised to be an early season boost for players who are pushing for 1st team recognition.

"Our current first team contains many players like Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, John O’Shea, Darren Fletcher, Jonny Evans, Darron Gibson and Wes Brown who have come through the ranks and some of the talent on show in Dublin will hopefully be in Sir Alex’s mind in the near future. For these players to get additional competitive action early in the season is welcome".

Head of Youth Development at Arsenal, Liam Brady said: “Arsenal’s policies in player development are fundamental to the success of the club. Once players get to reserve level they have to prove that they are capable of moving into the 1st team. An event like The PLATINUM ONE Challenge is important in that respect. To play Shamrock Rovers, whose European exploits have been so impressive, and our old rivals Manchester United in Dublin will be a bit special. We will have some very talented young players from all over the world on show and I am looking forward to seeing how they perform in this tournament.”

Shamrock Rovers Manager, Michael O’Neill said: “By the end of August Shamrock Rovers will have hosted Real Madrid, Juventus, Manchester United and Arsenal at Tallaght Stadium in little over a year. This is a progressive football club and again working with PLATINUM ONE on this event, our board is making sure that we are behaving as the leading club in Ireland should. The opportunity to see some of the Manchester United and Arsenal stars of the future at Tallaght will attract new football fans to our home stadium and we aim to impress them both on and off the pitch so that they return to watch Shamrock Rovers on future occasions.”

Details of the matches are as follows:

Sunday 15th August, 7.00pm Shamrock Rovers v Manchester United Reserves

Thursday 19th August, 7.45pm Manchester United Reserves v Arsenal Reserves

Sunday 22nd August, 3.00pm Shamrock Rovers v Arsenal Reserves

Tickets are now on sale from Ticketmaster