Niall Quinn in particular has worked ceaselessly to promote Sunderland's image in his home country since leading a buy-out of chairman Bob Murray last summer.

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His efforts have included not only a continual PR campaign in Ireland but have also involved flying over hundreds of Irish football fans over the course of the season and taking a personal interest in making sure they got the most out of their trips to Wearside.

Now, Sunderland are set to reap the benefits of the unstinting efforts of their chairman, along with the inevitable kudos of the club's successful promotion season to the Premiership.

All three of Sunderland's pre-season games across the Irish Sea have sold out and are set to be massively oversubscribed.

But the indications are that this could be just the start of a shift in public opinion in Ireland which could see Sunderland challenge the popularity of Manchester United, Celtic, Liverpool and Arsenal and – if Quinn has got anything to do with it - eclipse them.

Quinn said: "We are actively trying to raise Sunderland's profile in Ireland because of the strength of the connections between Ireland and Sunderland.

"Hopefully we would one day like to see Sunderland as the team which most team in Ireland follow."

The signs are that already the club are making major inroads.

Eammon Murphy, sports editor of the Cork Herald told the Echo: "I don't think the phrase 'Beatlemania' is overstating the case.

"The ground that Sunderland are playing at in Cork has a capacity of just under 7,000 but it's no exaggeration to say that they could have sold out the ground threefold.

"Sunderland's progress this season has attracted a massive amount of interest in Ireland over the last season with the involvement of Niall Quinn and Roy Keane and the various Irish players at the club.

"Irish fans have always been fairly brittle in terms of which English club they support and there's no doubt that a lot of them are being attracted by Sunderland – if they can stay in the Premiership next season and do well, that support over here is only going to grow.

"Roy Keane has a massive status in and around Cork but I think that the way he has conducted himself at Sunderland this season has impressed and swayed an awful lot of neutrals.

"Sunderland's pre-season tour of Ireland is going to be a big event."
Sunderlands' game against Bohemians FC in Dublin on Saturday, July 28 is now sold out, as is their game against Cork City on Monday, July 30 and Galway United on Wednesday, August 1.

In Galway, plans have been made for up to 3,000 school children to get to watch Roy Keane putting his Sunderland squad throught their paces at a special training session before the last game of their tour.

Quinn said: "We want to meet as many people as possible during our visit to Galway and this will give us the chance to meet the stars of the future from all over Galway. It should be a great event."

John Clery, chairman of the Galway and District League has welcomed Sunderland's efforts to be as wecoming as possible to interested youngsters.

He said: "It promises to be a great couple of days for everyone interested in soccer throughout Galway. Not everyone will be able to get a ticket for the match so it is great that up to 3,000 children will get the chance to see Sunderland players train."