PIC: 1916 football flag will bring the Aviva Stadium crowd to its feet over Easter weekend

The award for best Irish flag at the Aviva Stadium for Ireland's pair of friendlies over the next week will have to go to this one.

Twitter user Jackie Moran has shared this fantastically inspiring flag ahead of Ireland's Euro 2016 preparatory games against Switzerland and Slovakia. It depicts a number of Irish heroes from the 1916 Easter Rising alongside the players on whom Martin O'Neill will be relying on in France with the caption 'Leaders Then, Leaders Now.'

For the week that's in it! @JamesMcC14 @JonWalters19 @ShaneLong7 @flagmanireland #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/9txhFlNA20

— Jackie Moran (@Jackie__Moran) March 23, 2016

Poblacht na hÉireann is emblazoned on the white of the tricolour which will certainly get a positive reaction when it is unveiled this weekend, ahead of the centenary celebrations of the Rising.

It would of course be disrespectful to speak about the Rising's most iconic names in the same breath as people who kick a ball for a living but the message, one can tell, is one of motivation and keeping their legacy alive.