Despite having only two tickets between them, Carty and seven friends had somehow managed to get into the stadium in order to watch Oasis on the band's worldwide comeback tour.

But what should have been a night of pure joy was underpinned by the worrying concern that Carty may never make a comeback of his own.

At that point, the Dublin southpaw was only five months removed from the anterior cruciate ligament injury that caused his first defeat and put his entire career in jeopardy. He had hobbled along to Oasis, but boxing again at that point felt like a long shot as he watched the Gallagher brothers return to an Irish stage for the first time in 16 years.

“I had only recently got off my crutches after my operation when we went to see Oasis,” he tells The Ring. “I only live about 20 minutes from Croke Park, so I walked there.

“Then obviously we were stood up for the whole thing, and by the time it was finished, my knee was starting to swell up again. I had to get a taxi home because it was all pretty grim.

“At that point, I was right in the midst of my recovery, and I didn’t know what would happen to my career. Now, on my next visit there, I’m going to be boxing in the middle of it. It’s wild.”

After two days shy of an entire year on the sidelines, Carty did finally return to the ring in March when he outpointed German Skobenko over six rounds at 3Arena in his home city. His reward for that successful comeback was a place on the bill Saturday night at Croke Park, where Katie Taylor will bring the curtain down on her career in the main event against Flora Pili.

Carty (11-1, 9 KOs) will face popular Englishman Dave Allen (27-9-2, 20 KOs), who is back on a televised show for the first time since Filip Hrgovic clubbed him into a third-round corner stoppage on May 16 in Doncaster.

For 30-year-old Carty, who used to hear the roar of the “Croker” crowd from his mum’s living room as a kid, the outing will represent the realization of a dream nearly two decades in the making despite the fact he never expected to box there.

“I used to play Gaelic football back in the day before I ever boxed,” Carty says. “And it was my dream to play at Croke Park, which is the GAA headquarters.

“But when I was about 16 I jumped ship and packed in Gaelic football for boxing and assumed that dream was dead in the water. I kind of buried it and closed the door on it, but here we are the best part of 15 years later, and I’ll be competing there after all.

“It just goes to show you, life is crazy. At one stage there, I was thinking, 'Will I ever do sport again? Never mind boxing, will I ever be active again?' That's how bad I got there for a while. Fast forward to now and this opportunity, it’s crazy.”

Having Allen, one of British boxing’s biggest cult heroes, as his opponent has also raised the stakes for Carty, who knows all eyes will be on their chief support bout, live on DAZN.

Allen missed Wednesday’s open workouts in Dublin because he stayed back in Doncaster to drop his daughter Betty off for her first day at school. He made it to Thursday's undercard press conference, however, and revealed this would be his penultimate fight and warned his opponent that he plans to “flatten” him. Carty, across the table, could not help but laugh.

“I’ve always been a fan of Dave,” Carty says. “But I did think our paths would eventually cross.

“He is kind of sunsetting now, whereas I’m only just revving up again. I had massive momentum when I did my knee, and I was gearing up to do big things in the sport.

“I’m not done yet, and beating Dave Allen brings me back to where I was before my injury with massive momentum and with the opportunity and profile to talk to anybody I want.

“I’m no idiot in this sport. I’m in this to do as much as I possibly can and push the boat out. It has been a hard road to get here, but I’m glad I stuck at it.” Finally, after 18 months in the wilderness, Carty has found an oasis.