Watch: Cork boy does keepy-uppies for 6 MINUTES!
MAKE way, Messi! Roll over, Ronaldo! Step aside, Salah!
BALL-JUGGLING WIZARD: Kevin Murphy, 11, from Douglas, has reached the remarkable high of 2,441 keepy-uppies
MAKE way, Messi! Roll over, Ronaldo! Step aside, Salah!
Lots of kids - and adults for that matter - play the keepy-uppy game. All you need is a football and some space, and the aim is to try to keep the ball off the ground for as long as possible, using feet, knees, chest or head.
I don’t know what your keepy-uppy record is, but unless you are part of a tiny minority, it doesn’t come anywhere near that of Kevin Murphy!
Kevin, aged just 11, who hails from Douglas, has reached the astonishing high of 2,441 keepy-uppies. That’s not a typo - 2,441!
You can catch a glimpse of his remarkable skills in the video accompanying this story, which shows the Cork boy keeping the ball up for more than six minutes (we shortened it for your viewing, but it was verified by us).
Kevin, who plays for Douglas Hall AFC, began doing keepy-uppies aged seven and managed to reach 116 at that age.
For context here, the average number of keepy-uppies - using alternating feet - for 11-year-olds is 15-25, while only skilled players can normally break 50.
Video online shows Lionel Messi, aged 10, breaking 100 (almost all with his left leg, but let’s not be too critical of the poor lad) - and the recent World Cup winner didn’t turn out to be a bad player, all things considered.
Asked for tips for those who might like to improve their records, Kevin says: “Try to use both feet, and practice”.
Well, it seems to have worked for him.
By preference a right-winger on the pitch, Kevin is a fan of both Cork City and Liverpool - indeed he’s a season ticket holder with City.
Who knows? If his playing skills match his keepy-uppies, maybe one day he’ll grace the hallowed turf of Turner’s Cross - or even Anfield!
However, if Kevin wants to break the world record keepy-uppies - or kicky-uppies, as they are also known - he might have to practice for a while longer.
In April, a 10-year-old boy from Shenzhen in China, Tang Jinfan, set a Guinness World Record by juggling a football 8,147 times with alternating feet in the space of one hour.
Meanwhile, the record for the longest duration keepie-uppie is 26 hours using just feet, legs, shoulders and head, by British Football Freestyler Dan Magness in Hong Kong, in 2010.
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