A few of us are planning on heading to O'Shea's on the corner of Whitworth Street and Princess Street in Manchester city centre to watch the first leg of the Estonia play-off on Friday night. I'm hoping there'll be a good atmosphere in the place. Anyone in Manchester reckon there'd be a better place around to watch the game or would we be best settling on O'Shea's?

I've been to Mulligan's in Deansgate for one match and the general atmosphere in the bar was OK, but I think it was half down to the fact it was small and packed on a Saturday night, mainly with people only half interested in their drink, never mind the game. Any time I've been to O'Shea's, the home of Manchester's Tommy Burns Celtic Supporters Club, it's disappointed on the atmosphere front as it's relatively spacious and would require a bit of a crowd to stir a bit of buzz. Both broadcast RTÉ, if memory serves me correctly. The home Russia game had an OK atmosphere in O'Shea's - again, that was a weekend night - but it was a complete dud for some of the other group games, especially those taking place mid-week. I've been reassured that it was buzzing for both legs of the World Cup play-off against France, so hopefully we'll see something similar on Friday night as this game should have substantially more appeal for many people than your run-of-the-mill group game. If anyone knows anyone interested in the game in Manchester, sure tell them to come along to O'Shea's. Or if they can recommend somewhere better for us to go, tell them to go there.