RAVIS supporters turned out in force to meet their heroes following an open training session in Ireland.

The Boys in Green will face a Norway without Erling Haaland on Thursday in the first of a pair of international friendlies.

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The second will see them travel to face Malta next Sunday.

Stephen Kenny’s men have been hard at work preparing for the matches, including a training session at the Aviva Stadium.

It wasn’t like any other practice though, as it presented a chance for the fans to meet their heroes afterwards.

Several stars stayed to sign autographs and take photos.

Some came with homemade signs begging players to give them their training shirts/tops.

This was followed by the traditional pre-match press conference, with, among others, Stephen Kenny, Gavin Bazunu and Darragh Lenihan.

The latter, who plays his football club with Middlesbrough in the English championship, hopes to win his fourth cap against the Norwegians or Malta.

And he enters the team full of confidence after a strong start to life at Boro under new manager and Man Utd legend Michael Carrick, who took charge last month.

Lenihan said: “His experience as a player. I think he won five Premier Leagues and a Champions League.

“He also brought in Jonathan Woodgate who played for Middlesbrough and knows the club inside out and also played for Real Madrid.

“So that experience alone gives us the confidence to keep going. It gives simple but very effective messages in what we want to do.

“The guys have taken charge of the messages he wants to convey. The training sessions have been very detailed on what he wants.

“He brought everyone together and we want to keep pushing and keep pushing forward.

“He made a really big impression. It was a tough start and we expected to be higher up the table at the start, but it wasn’t meant to be.

“But how we reacted over the last two weeks, the manager has been excellent. Hopefully we can improve and hopefully after this break we can continue.