Drumming up support for Green and White Army

And there’s no doubt that tensions will be running high tomorrow as the Green and White Army take on Poland in their inaugural match at Euro 2016.

Twenty-two-year-old Luke, who plays centre-back for Doncaster Rovers, is in France with the rest of the Northern Ireland squad preparing for the tournament.

Dad Dean, 52, and his wife Shirleen will travel over to Nice today (Saturday), where they will be staying for a week, taking in two of the team’s three matches.

And yesterday their other son Scott, 24, headed out with a crowd of his friends to cheer on his little brother.

The only family member unfortunately not going is 18-year-old Holly, who is in the middle of her A levels at Portadown College.

“We are proud of Luke - but he’s still our son and he still needs grounded, and his feet kept on the ground,” laughs Dean.

“Did I give him any words of wisdom? He doesn’t listen to me anymore! No, we do have our wee conversations, I tell him to keep working hard and stuff like that. This certainly is for him the biggest tournament he has ever played in.

“He’s part of the squad which is great, and you just hope that he will get an opportunity to get on the pitch and play in one of the games.”

Dean reveals that Luke isn’t the kind of player to show his nerves, and is fairly laid back in his approach to his matches.

“We probably get more nervous before the games he’s going to be playing in, especially the bigger games with the bigger crowds.