Delaney: All the Hollywood goes out the window at showtime on Sunday

While the paucity of Irish managers in England is lamented, Ryan Delaney’s experience offers him optimism.

He will captain a Newport County team, managed by Dubliner Graham Coughlan, in Sunday’s glamour FA Cup tie and was previously under the guidance of Corkman Brian Barry-Murphy.

Together at Rochdale United, they were pitted against Tottenham in the Cup six years ago.

Only for a late penalty by substitute Harry Kenny, they’d have avoided a replay at White Hart Lane — which descended into a 6-1 massacre.

“Our gaffer is very similar to Brian — and I’d say even like myself,” Delaney, the centre-back part of Cork City’s 2017 double-winning team, said while on loan.

“I think us Irish stick together. When I met Graham last summer about signing for Newport, my gut feeling was this was a manager I wanted to work under.

“He’s honest and hard-working, very much in the same vein as Brian.

“He’s gone off to Manchester City and fully deserves to be heading for the highest level. Brian is a great man.”

That great man carries the potential to occupy a place in discourse around future Ireland managerial hunts, based on his career trajectory from his development role at the treble-winners.

A scalp in the magnitude of Manchester United would help Coughlan join that conversation down the road, and much will depend on his skipper’s contribution.

It doesn’t just hinge on how he fares at Rodney Parade against Erik ten Tag’s chosen striker, likely Rasmus Højlund, but his pastoral influence on teammates.

Mid-table fourth division level against the might of the Premier League staple might be ordinarily considered a mismatch, but this is a Red Devils side in a state of flux and scrambling for redemption.

United were winless in five matches