Manchester United might be out of Europe, but the city is still in the Champions League when it comes to Irish dancing.
The first two winners at the World Irish Dance Championships which started in Belfast's Waterfront Hall yesterday were Mancunian.
James Felix Keegan (13) jigged to victory in the Michael Flatley-sponsored 13/15-year-old category and admitted to having been very nervous because he had won a world title the year before. "Everyone in England expected me to win, so it was a relief that I did," he said.
It was a very Good Friday for hot favourite and former world champion Sinead Fallon, also from Manchester, who was victorious in the 16/17-year-old category.
The organisers, the World Irish Dancing Commission (WIDC), said the event had never been so big. There was even an internal television station called Rince TV. The chairman of the WIDC, Mr Seamus O'Shea, credited another sponsor, Riverdance, for raising the international profile of Irish dance. Around 3,500 competitors and 10,000 spectators have travelled from the US, New Zealand, Australia, the UK and Canada to Belfast for the competition.
It is the first time the Olympics of Irish dancing has been held outside the Republic in its 31-year history.
Miniature sparkling crowns were de rigueur for competitors, especially when positioned on Dolly Parton-style curly wigs.
Fake tan for pasty legs was standard, as was trowel-applied make-up and sequinned dresses covered in fluorescent embroidery. "Shocking pink is in this year," one competitor confided, unnecessarily.
Tears came when one teenage female dancer anticipating victory didn't manage to figure in the top ten. "That's it," she sobbed as a friend consoled her, "I'm giving up."
One woman who didn't even get the chance to compete was Emma Thompson (23) who had come all the way from Denver, Colorado. She broke her ankle during practice just days before the competition.
She turned up at the Waterfront Hall on crutches to support her younger brother, Ross, who was also competing. Despite the injury, Emma was determined to give world champion glory another shot next year. "I'll be back," she said.
The World Irish Dance Championships continue over Easter until Thursday, April 27th