Exclusive:Northern Ireland legend relishing Doncaster Rovers game and reunion with good friend Grant McCann

It'll be a proud moment on Saturday afternoon for both men in the Windsor Park dugout.

Not only will the friendly between Linfield and Doncaster Rovers pit two fiercely proud Northern Irishmen against each other. It will also be two lifelong friends facing off, with Grant McCann coming up against his old pal David Healy. The pair's association stretches back more than 30 years since they were both on the books of Lisburn Youth, a famed club in Northern Ireland renowned for rearing a host of future international stars.

Healy and McCann played together from the age of 11, with each making the brave decision to move to England as teenagers. Healy joined Manchester United in 1995, McCann went to West Ham a year later. Each would go on to enjoy hugely successful playing careers across the water, as well as for their country. Now, they're both more than a decade down the managerial route with McCann having held roles at Rovers, Hull and Peterborough whilst Healy has enjoyed superb longevity and success in 11 years at the Linfield helm.

Naturally, given their shared bond, Saturday in Belfast promises to be a special occasion.

"That relationship and that bond was built at such an early age, so I would imagine in another 20 years time we'll sit down when we've both been sacked about 10 times and we'll talk about football and we'll talk about our upbringings!" Healy, his country's record goalscorer, tells the Free Press in an exclusive chat ahead of the friendly against Rovers.

Whilst McCann was born and bred in Belfast, Healy grew up in Killyleagh - about 20 miles south. Speaking recently about his upbringing, McCann told of how he had a lot of aggression that occasionally would boil over.

Healy believes that growing up at a time when he did (the Troubles were ongoing throughout the 1980s) probably shaped McCann's character.

He says: "I was outside Belfast so I had probably a bit more of a quiet demeanour about me. I wasn't a Belfast boy. Grant was basically right behind in the heart of Belfast and Sandy Row where you basically had to endure the odd little misdemeanours. You had to fight for everything that you had. I think that's what made Grant obviously now as a manager. He's had to fight along the way. I've no doubt his upbringing and his background has certainly helped him develop into the person he has become now. Absolutely."

Not only does Saturday's friendly see McCann pit his wits against a close friend but it sees him manage a game at the home of Northern Irish football - at a ground that is a stone's throw from where he grew up.

"The ground's a five-minute walk," Healy says. "You walk through the village down to Donegal Road and then you get to the nitty-gritty of Sandy Row. And I'd say about 95 per cent of the people in Sandy Row and the village area and the Donegal Road area all support Linfield.

"I'm looking forward to the occasion and I know it'll be the exact same for Grant. He's bringing his team over tomorrow to showcase them and I've no doubt he'll be desperate to impress. Me and Grant were brought up in a similar sort of background. We both supported Rangers and Linfield. We both had the fortunate nature of playing for Northern Ireland, and that meant the world to the both of us. No doubt me and Grant will remain friends long after we're both well and truly out of football."

Healy has been in charge of Linfield since 2015 - winning a remarkable six league titles so far - and so will have managed hundreds and hundreds of games in the famous Windsor Park dugout. But for McCann, Saturday's game is his first. Healy says it will likely be a pinch-me moment for his pal.

"Even now, I still get the buzz when I walk out at Windsor Park," he says. "It's difficult when we don't win at Linfield because the expectations are always that you have to win here. It's become much more of a challenge over the last couple of years. So any success we do get, we enjoy it because you never know when the next cup final is going to come or when the next league trophy success is going to come.

"So I still have that buzz of managing Linfield. It's my club, and as Grant has documented numerous times, it's his club too. It'll be a proud moment for both of us."