If Tyias Browning, Aiden McGeady or James Vaughan make their Sunderland debuts today against St Johnstone, McDiarmid Park will become a place they never forget.
But for John O’Shea, the Perth-based stadium is already an unforgettable and cherished arena.
- Follow all the action from St Johnstone
- Watch the Lads train ahead of their final Scottish outing
- Jack Rodwell previews Saturday's game
The Sunderland captain has enjoyed a fabulous career and he’s won it all.
Premier League titles, FA Cup triumphs and conquering Europe, even the world. You name it, O’Shea has won it.
But every story has a beginning and this is where McDiarmid Park comes into play.
One year before joining Manchester United’s illustrious academy, O’Shea was called on by Republic of Ireland’s under-16s ahead of the UEFA European Under-16 Championships.
Based in Scotland, Dean Gorre’s side would take on the hosts, Finland and four-time winners Spain in the group stages with all their initial three outings taking place in Stirling, as their counterparts faced off in Perth.
An opening stalemate with Scotland on 26 April provided the platform before a 2-0 win over Finland set up a group-topping decider against a star-studded Spain side.
And a solitary strike against the reigning champions ensured the Irish topped the group to set up a quarter-final showdown with Denmark.
Yet to concede a goal, Ireland overcame the Danes with a 2-0 win before O’Shea and his team-mates kept another clean sheet in the last four against Portugal, as Shaun Byrne was at the double.
And Joe Murphy, who spent the 2005-06 season on Wearside and faced the Lads last week at Bury, starred between the sticks, although O’Shea didn’t feature against his former team-mate at Gigg Lane.
All roads led to McDiarmid Park but the Italians stood in their way and were firm favourites heading into the contest after overcoming Croatia and Spain in the knockout stages.
But Ireland started as they meant to go on and Keith Foy opened the scoring on 34 minutes.
Gorre’s men were pegged back early in the second period as Simone Pelanti levelled, however, parity was short-lived and David McMahon restored their advantage five minutes later en route to a memorable win.
And O’Shea wasn’t the only soon-to-be Black Cat to taste victory that day in Perth, with Liam Miller, Andy Reid and stopper Murphy all picking up winners’ medals.
Nineteen years later, O’Shea returns to McDiarmid Park with a trophy cabinet and career that many of his team-mates, and himself, would have dared dream of that day.