”Michael Darragh – wicked. This is Oliver from The xx and I want to wish you the best of luck on Sunday. I hope you kill it.”

Dublin’s star midfielder, Michael Darragh Macauley, has just played me a message Oliver Sim of art-rock maestros The xx left his phone several years ago. A friend of the footballer’s was interviewing the musician and duly prevailed on him to provide Macauley with a few words of encouragement.

Perhaps it will kickstart an unlikely trend of avant-indie mavericks giving pep-talks to GAA sides, and Ariel Pink being co-opted to the backroom set-up of a leading inter-county team. Then again, maybe not. What is certain, though, is that Macauley is a man who knows his music. A whistlestop tour of some of his recent listening includes Four Tet, Rejjie Snow, LCD Soundsystem and other acts unlikely to be mentioned on The Marty Squad. A big hip-hop fan who devoured the Netflix series The Defiant Ones (“a big thing I took away was Jimmy Iovine’s work ethic”), Macauley was present for one of James Murphy and co.’s barnstorming three shows at the Olympia last year.