'One of our own': Standing ovation for Cork's Roy Keane at the Marquee

As the sun continued to beat down on Cork city on Monday night, one of its most beloved soccer sons was getting ready to take to the stage of the Marquee on Centre Park Road, for the first night of the venue’s fastest-selling shows of the year. One-time midfield maestro Roy Keane was drowned in “Keano” chants from the second the in-house video screens began depicting his walk to the spotlight, accompanied by interviewer and autobiography collaborator Roddy Doyle, an Irish literary legend in his own right.

There was little in the way of pre-amble, as Keane sheepishly motioned to the crowd to pipe down, and Doyle set about helping him paint the picture of a wide and varied early career: “Edgy” childhood kickabouts in Mayfield; becoming “a Rockmount man”; youthful excursions with Cobh Ramblers spent in search of ways into trials for an English team; the culture shock of first-team football with Nottingham Forest, and the confidence instilled in him by talismanic gaffer Brian Clough.

Keane’s near-thirteen-year stint at the centre of Manchester United’s glory-days line-out formed the bulk of the first half of the show, from Keane’s “selfish decision” to leave a relegated Forest to pursue first-team football ahead of the 1994 World Cup, and the uneasy sensation of being brought in to replace previous midfield ace Brian Robson, to his ascension to a senior figure in a now-legendary series of squads - with all the responsibility that attends - and the animus created by his unceremonious firing and falling-out with legendary manager Alex Ferguson. “There’s nothing worse than a justified anger,” mused Keane.

The Saipan incident, of course, reared its head, and with it, Keane’s confidence in the correctness of his decision to leave the Irish international team’s World Cup training camp back in 2002. “I never lost a wink of sleep”, remarked Keane of the backlash, having outlined that he and then-Ireland manager Mick McCarthy were at variances over external challenges and interpersonal differences.

The end of his playing career with Glasgow Celtic posed regrets for the former Irish international; as did the ups and downs of learning to manage and coach soccer teams, from guiding Sunderland back to top-flight action (but not before taking an hour to spin around in his new office chair), to his time with Ipswich Town, an eyeroll-invoking spell that ultimately drove him to consider his options in soccer before beginning his current career as a TV pundit - a change of pace encouraged by a chance glance at his horoscope, and its imperative to say ‘yes’ to new things.

The second half of the show kicked off on discussions of the current state of Man United’s first team, and if Keane would go there today - a deft touch by Doyle, who masterfully tapped topic after topic across to Keane to power home, without so much as an extended moment in the spotlight. The pair’s obvious rapport, gleaned from working together on two volumes of Keane’s autobiography, translated well to the big stage, with the star of the show effortlessly articulating himself across a range of current-day topics, as well as back-and-forth across dissections of Keane’s dream-eleven lineups of former team-mates and rivals.

“If someone goes out of their way for me, I’m all in”, Keane enthused regards the people that helped him over the years toward the end of the show, taking time to revert to recurring themes of teamwork and camaraderie, good balances of people, gut instincts, and the intrinsic motivation of world-class soccer. By the time a standing ovation greeted a still-sheepish Keane as he and Doyle walked off stage, a good amount of mystique was lifted, a few select aspects of his reputation were copper-fastened, and the human behind the ever-growing legend of Keano showed flashes of humanity, humility, and contentment. One of our own.