February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Of all those who were in the same field, he has stood out as the most universally known. He turned out to be a symbol of all that is Irish. In his book, the growth of his wisdom celebrates the spirit of this remarkable man. We see the maturity of a young man who begins to think deeper about life and what he has taken on. His honesty, at times brutal, sees him through the hardships of his personal and public life.
Who is he? His name is Magonus Sucatus Patricius, otherwise known as Saint Patrick. But you can be forgiven if you thought we were talking about Roy Keane.
Now, by no means is the Corkman a saint, but then again, St. Patrick was by no means a run of the mill holy man. Indeed, the anointed one was very much seen as a rebel and a man who defied the Roman church of his time. He simply followed his dreams.
Patrick’s story does have similar paths to all the great Irish exports that have immigrated to England as professional footballers.
As well as the experience of making it in a foreign land and winning the hearts of thousands, the lessons in life for both saint and footballer are similar. In Patrick’s letters and writings he speaks of humility, imperfection, sacrifice, grace, anger, honesty, individual worth, faith, grief, justice, acceptance, gratitude and courage.
We’ve seen it all with not just Keano but with the likes of Johnny Giles, Paul McGrath, Mick McCarthy and Jackie Charlton. And like Jackie, we’ve seen many a player adopting Ireland as did Saint Patrick, whose father was Italian. And just like Patrick’s criticisms from his church and peers and his own people, many a player has been on the end of such stick. The Irish are no saints when it comes to knocking their own.
Take Giles, for example. I remember being in Lansdowne Road when Giles was player/manager. He had the Irish team playing the ball back a lot. When Giles would get the ball going forward, a roar would come from the crowd, “Hey, Johnny, your going the wrong way, your keeper’s on.” With that the Lansdowne end would be in knots of laughter and here was Giles and Ireland playing in a full-blown international that meant qualification or something. Or when Giles and Eamon Dunphy first started as analysists with RTE and when they’d come on to give commentary on the game, hardly anybody would listen to them. “Ah, turn those eejits off, they don’t know what they are talking about,” a fan might say.
Of course, things have changed. Giles has shown that he is indeed a soccer guru. Perhaps he was ahead of his time. As for Dunphy, he is now considered one of most forward-thinking entertainers on the scene. An excellent columnist, he has his own radio station, has written books and nice work as a ghostwriter. And yet it is still believed that he was not the greatest of footballers. Funny that, isn’t it? A professional player knocked by people who never even made it on to their youth team growing up.
Mick McCarthy now gets lashed out of it at every turn since the Japan-Korea World Cup when he played his part in the Keane saga. Even though he is doing an amazing job with bringing Sunderland back to the premier, Mick’s popularity with the Irish is on the decline. Even making the last 16 in the World Cup without Ireland’s best player was not good enough. And as for Jackie Charlton, he put Irish football on the World cup map and he also ended up getting lambasted on his kick run and pressure tactics that saw Ireland progress from nowhere to the top 20 in the world.
Much controversy has surrounded the Irish game and many an individual has spoken out from Liam Brady to David O’Leary. Great servants from Davey Langan to Paul McGrath have had their tormented stories told and pitied. But there is no other story more controversial that Roy Keane. No other player has achieved more in the game that the already legendary figure at Old Trafford. He is adored by the thousands of Red Devil fans. He is one of the most outspoken sports figures of our time. His manager predicts that he will be remembered for what he has done for United 500 years from now.
But for the white and green, it is a different story. He has not quite put his Irish legacy in place. But this coming 2006 World Cup could be his last chance. His mission will be complete should he captain the Irish to qualify for Germany. His legacy of being a great leader will go beyond his wildest dreams should he take the Irish to the final stages of the next tournament. And perhaps when he does, in the words of Saint Patrick, will Keane be able to say, “I say boldly that my conscience does not bother me, neither now nor will it in the future, for I have God as my witness that I have not lied in all I have said to you.”