Twin sons of football legend and grandsons of Irish woman sign Man Utd contracts

The twins of Man Utd legend Darren Fletcher, whose mother is a native of Achill Island, have signed professional contracts with their father's former club.

Twins Jack and Tyler Fletcher - son of former midfielder and Scotland international Darren – signed professional contracts with Man Utd after turning 17.

The twins' grandmother is Bridie Fletcher, nee Gielty, a native of Dooagh on Achill Island and the family are regular visitors to the west of Ireland. The signings were welcomed in Dooagh where the career of Darren was closely followed with the Dooagh Day Facebook page passing on their congratulations to the twins.

Despite opting to play for Scotland at International level, Darren and his family continue to have close links to Achill and remain proud of his Mayo roots.

In 2013, Fletcher opted to attend the All-Ireland final between Mayo and Dublin ahead of the Manchester derby when he was out with an injury.

“I tried to play a little bit (of Gaelic football) when I used to come over on holidays - not very successfully. I was better when the ball was on the ground. It's a really entertaining game and a really great sport to watch,” he said at the time.

Darren, who grew up in Edinburgh, made 223 first team appearances for Man United before ending his career with West Brom and Stoke and also earned 80 caps for Scotland.

He is currently the technical director of Man Utd and works closely with the current first team coach, Erik ten Hag who holds the twins in high regard.

According to reports, midfielder Jack has reportedly already impressed te Hag and has been fast-tracked into first team training while Tyler who is a central midfielder, has done well with the youth team.

The Fletchers are not the only footballers with strong Dooagh connections to make their mark on the world of football.

Rose Lavelle, the World Cup winning International midfielder with the US women's team is the great-grandchild of John P Lavelle from Dooagh, Achill and Honoria ‘Nora’ Lavelle from Keel, Achill who married in Cleveland, Ohio in 1908.

The 28-year-old midfielder currently has 98 caps for the US team and scored the winning goal in the 2019 Fifa Women's World Cup Final against the Netherlands.