Roy Keane says spell as Martin O’Neill’s Ireland assistant ‘highlight of career’

By Damian Spellman, PA

Roy Keane has described his five years as Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill’s assistant as “the highlight of my career”.

The former Ireland skipper won seven Premier League titles, the Champions League, the Intercontinental Cup and four FA Cups as a Manchester United player, and guided Sunderland to promotion to the top flight in his first managerial role.

However, Keane has revealed his time working as his country’s assistant manager between 2013 and 2018, during which the Republic qualified for the Euro 2016 finals, where they famously beat Italy to reach the last 16, brought him as much pleasure as anything.

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Speaking as O’Neill appeared as a guest on the Stick to Football podcast, Keane said: “I go back throughout my career and my experience with Martin, particularly going to the Euros, was probably the highlight of my career.

“It sounds bizarre because we always talk about playing – and I loved playing – but our time with Ireland was probably the highlight.

“I just loved everything about it, the dynamics, the energy of the group, working with Martin and the other staff members…There was something going on there and there was a feel-good factor.

“The lads were decent. We probably did lack an out-and-out goalscorer, a bit of quality, all of those things, but we got to the Euros, we got to the [World Cup] play-offs. It was one of the best times of my life.”

Ireland ultimately missed out on a place at the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia after a play-off defeat by a Christian Eriksen-inspired Denmark, and O’Neill and Keane departed in the November of the same year following a disappointing Nations League campaign.

Keane hit the headlines during their time together when a leaked WhatsApp message revealed a training ground spat with players Harry Arter and Jon Walters, although the 53-year-old insisted he had no regrets.

He said: “The one or two players I fell out with Ireland, I have no problem with that because they weren’t doing what we wanted them to do.

“I would regret more if I kept my mouth shut and said nothing.”