It is 4.30pm and the kettle has just boiled at the Curtis household in old Portsmouth where Ronan, not long back from a player-appearance event in nearby Havant, is sitting at one end of the dining room table detailing the significance of the signed Republic of Ireland and Derry City shirts framed on the wall behind him, the latter a poignant tribute to his former captain Ryan McBride, who died suddenly three years ago at the age of 28.

Marie, Curtis’s mother, takes a seat along from Ronan but, these days, she does not need to intervene. “You would bring him in for his dinner and the ball would be under the table and he’d be kicking it from one foot to the other,” she says. “He would stop and then the moment you were not looking ... he just couldn’t keep still. Every morning I would have to get two uniforms ready for him, because if I didn’t watch him he would be in the garden.”

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Nowadays Ronan’s playground is Fratton Park, where Portsmouth host Arsenal on Monday in the FA Cup fifth round. For a family of mostly Arsenal fans, 14 of whom will be at the game, including several of his 10 siblings, it represents the dream tie in a marathon season, in which Portsmouth are guaranteed to play at least 60 matches, including a trip to Wembley next month for a second consecutive EFL Trophy final.

The forward’s parents are based in St Johnston, a village in Donegal, but are staying with Ronan and his brother, Blain, until the end of the season. Marie is from Derry, and Ronan’s father David’s roots are in Cork, but they moved away in the depths of the Troubles and Ronan was born in Croydon, where he lived until the age of six, when the family relocated to Ireland. “I love my parents being here and keeping me on the straight and narrow,” Ronan says. “They’ve brought me up all my life and now it is time to repay them.”

His parents were regulars at Crystal Palace, where his dad became friends with Chris Coleman, who is Ronan’s godfather, but Arsenal’s style always appealed. So much so that Marie owns an Arsenal trench coat. “I wear it to every game with Pompey because it’s so warm. I did get some stick from some [Portsmouth fans] when they beat the Arsenal Under-21s [in 2018] and when I go home and go to Derry City, I wear the coat and they say: ‘Here’s Mrs Wenger.’ I sent away for a Pompey badge, so I will just have to sit it on there. I’ll have to sew it on for the night. It’s the only time I will not be shouting for Arsenal.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ronan Curtis in action during Portsmouth’s win at home to Rochdale on Friday. Photograph: James Marsh/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

Down the other end of the lounge, there is a canvas of Ronan celebrating against Bristol Rovers and in his bedroom a scrap of evidence from his childhood supporting Arsenal: a signed shirt from Kieran Gibbs, who grew up a few streets away in Croydon. “My idols were Bergkamp and Henry,” the 23-year-old says. “They were unbelievable finishers. I used to watch those two especially because I wanted to be like them as a kid and now to play against that team is brilliant. I used to send messages to Cazorla when I was younger, just as a fan three or four years ago. And he messaged me back, which was a nice gesture. They still have so much talent: Aubameyang, Lacazette, Özil. But on the day, we have to forget about the dreams and who we’re coming up against.”

Ronan may be Portsmouth’s talisman but Marie has her own fan club in the shape of 2,127 followers on Twitter, which she has used to post messages of support – “take no prisoners” – rubbish transfer speculation and wish the Portsmouth manager, Kenny Jackett, a happy birthday; there is a reason “mum” is one of the search terms suggested when you Google Ronan’s name. “The fans have jumped on it, saying: ‘Can you go to Kenny and ask him to let you do the team talk?’” Marie says. “I’ll say: ‘Safe journey to the fans, take it easy,’ or if he’s up there: ‘I’ve had a phone call from Ronan, the weather’s not too great so take extra coats and gloves.’ Now they’re calling me the Twitter mum.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ronan Curtis with his mum, Marie, who is wearing an Arsenal coat and is known to some as ‘Mrs Wenger’. Photograph: Christopher Ison/The Guardian

But in November she caused a storm in a teacup after tweeting “Has Pitts put on weight or is it just TV” in regard to the Portsmouth striker Brett Pitman, leading to Ronan imposing a two-week Twitter ban on his mum. “I went on it when he wasn’t looking,” she says, laughing. “But I didn’t realise how far Twitter goes. I really didn’t. I put it out there and then he [Ronan] came in and said: ‘Mam, what have you done?’ He just went: ‘That’s it, you’re not to go on Twitter any more.’ I specifically went down to the training ground to speak to him [Pitman] and I said: ‘I can only apologise, because it did make you look massive and I hadn’t seen you for a while.’ It wasn’t meant maliciously.”

The days of Ronan muddying his trousers before school may have long gone but Marie and her youngest son have always shared a close bond, be it supporting him at the Brandywell, Derry’s ground, which has since been renamed in honour of McBride, where he played for five years, or trips to the local bingo hall. “If he has got a game the next day, I take him on a Friday night, because then he’s not thinking about the game. We have a laugh and a joke and all of the old girls absolutely love him,” she says, laughing. David pokes fun at his son from the comfort of the settee. “He’s a mummy’s boy,” he says. “‘Mummy’s wee dote’, that’s what they used to sing about him in Ireland.” Ronan, refreshingly, does not attempt to play down his mother’s influence. “She is like a rock. There’s nothing better, is there?”

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Ronan’s parents have been with him every step of the way, from travelling with him to Östersunds to meet Graham Potter a few months before joining Portsmouth, to popping down to the training ground to ensure he had settled and going to Kosovo for an Ireland Under-21 qualifier. Noel King, the player identification manager for the Football Association of Ireland, has been particularly influential, and Robbie Keane helped settle the nerves before Curtis’s senior international debut in November 2018. But confidence is flowing now, with Curtis having equalled last season’s goal haul already. “Hopefully we can get promoted this year and it’s nice to get back to Wembley as well, so there’s a lot at stake,” he says. “We know what we have to do.”