Cork-born Hourihane is a big fan of Roy Keane (Getty)

Growing up in the city of Cork, the Manchester United fan idolised his fellow Irishman and is delighted to be involved at the Stadium of Light.

"About a year ago I was looking on websites about Roy Keane and now he is my boss." he told BBC Radio Newcastle.

"He has been great, stops and talks to me and he has been really brilliant."

Interview: Sunderland midfielder Conor Hourihane

Unity has been a feature of the Sunderland side since Keane took over in August 2006 and Hourihane says this sense of togetherness has spread to the youth side.

"We've got a great bunch of lads, we all get on very well and there's a lot of talented lads," he said.

"There's a great team spirit, we went away at Christmas, played paintball and go-karting and that was brilliant for team bonding."

The further we got we thought 'We might have a go at this' Conor Hourihane on the FA Youth Cup

The Black Cats are through to the semi-finals of this season's FA Youth Cup and the 17-year-old believes the team are focused on the job ahead.

"The first few rounds we were like, 'Let's just go out and win this' and the further we got we thought 'We might have a go at this'.

"We played Liverpool we beat them and then we won in the quarters and we'll give everything we've got on Thursday."