Hero's welcome for Keane
Former Irish Republic soccer captain Roy Keane received a hero’s welcome today when he returned to his home city of Cork for a book-signing session.
Fans of the controversial Manchester United midfielder queued for hours outside a branch of Easons bookshop in Cork to get the player to inscribe their copies of his autobiography.
The footballer’s return took on an extra significance because of Mick McCarthy’s departure from the post of manager of the Irish national squad this week.
His clash with Keane during the summertime World Cup led to the Corkman’s sensational early return from the Far East-based tournament.
Keane turned up at the shop for the signing an hour ahead of schedule – and found as many as 2,000 supporters there waiting for him – a figure well in excess of the 350 tickets made available in advance, and one which grew significantly later.
Before the start of the book ceremony, Keane, whose loyal home town backing has never wavered – despite those parts of his autobiography relating to the tough tackling of opponents – spoke to children with special needs, hugging some of them, and signed replica Irish shirts as well as other soccer paraphernalia.
Easons had to close the doors as the level of excitement peaked.
But while Keane was friendly and had a word for all his followers, young and old, he was not prepared to be forthcoming about his international future in the light of the change at the top in the Irish squad set-up.
He just smiled again when fans asked whether the development could lead to a return by him to the Ireland team.
Keane arrived in Cork at just about the same time his club made it clear there would be an appeal against his latest suspension, ironically for what he wrote in the book. But he would make no comment about that, either.
