Fail to prepare and prepare to fail. The words of Roy Keane
as he shattered the tranquillity of Ireland's World Cup squad in
Saipan. The comment was one of many made by Keane on the eve of the
2002 finals. But that was the most memorable because it truly
summed up his feelings at the time. Feelings which evolved from the
biggest day of his young life as a footballer in
Cork.
Keane was due to play in an FAI Cup quarter-final replay for Cobh
Ramblers youth team against Belvedere. As ever, several scouts
would be in attendance on the Fairview Park pitch in north Dublin.
Eddie O'Rourke, Keane's team manager, said to him: "This could be
your day, kid, you never know."
Yet the day started so badly for the entire team. "Everything that
could go wrong, did go wrong," says O'Rourke. "The bus was late, we
were late togging off. We were mangled by Belvedere but Roy was
head and shoulders above anyone on the pitch and destroyed them
despite the fact we lost 4-0. He was like a man possessed, even
after they scored the fourth and the game was over he was running
all over the pitch.
'Ronnie Fenton did the negotiating and Mr Clough came in halfway
through. He gave my brother John a kiss and said: 'What are you
going to do with the money?' He couldn't believe we were all
working men who were going to give every penny to the club. He took
a bottle of Paddy's out, poured everyone a glass and said: 'Give
them what they want'.
"Mr Clough would have turned round and said 'no' if we had asked
for that kind of deal. How could you tell a young fella like Roy
his dream was over because we wanted more cash in the future? No
way. At the end of the day, he put this club on the map and we have
had plenty of return since.
"Forest were the making of him. We had never heard of things like
upper-body strength. When he came back in his Forest blazer, he
stood tall and proud and looked like a footballer. I have a photo
of him with his four medals from the cups we won and he's stood
there proud and beaming like he's won the World Cup."
"He was over here recently and still talking and joking about how
shambolic we were that day. 'Fail to prepare . . .' I'm sure that's
where it came from. But I knew that was his day. He always had
nagging doubts and kept wondering if someone was ever going to spot
him and offer him a chance in England."
Noel McCabe travelled to games across Dublin on his trusty
motorbike, forever hoping that one day he would spot the youngster
he could recommend to Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest a
youngster who would eventually be referred to daily by Cloughie as
'The Irishman'.
McCabe was the only scout to witness what O'Rourke had seen for
months that Keane was a natural-born footballer. He pinched
himself when he arrived at the hotel where the defeated team were
drowning their sorrows with orange juice. No other scout had
bothered. O'Rourke recalls: "There was every kind of scout there
that day, including Boy Scouts. I will always wonder what the
others were watching."
Defeat was rare for the Cobh boys, who won four cups during Keane's
last season, but McCabe arrived to offer a lifeline to the
18-year-old who had dreamed of becoming a professional footballer
from the moment he won his first tackle on the street outside his
Ballinderry Park home in Mayfield, a northern suburb of Cork.
O'Rourke and his brother John told Keane of Forest's interest but
the youngster, then facing the prospect of the dole queue and
afternoons watching Neighbours, shrugged it off. "He was sick of
hearing that players were going over for trials," explains
O'Rourke. "I don't think he really believed it was going to happen
until he stepped on the plane after signing for Forest."
Among O'Rourke's most prized possessions is his copy of Keane's
autobiography, in which he features prominently in the opening
pages. His own inside page is signed by Keane, who held up the
mile-long procession for his signature in Eason's bookstore in
Patrick Street to write "Thanks for everything". "It meant so much.
Such a lovely proud feeling," says the recipient. O'Rourke is
reluctant to give interviews nowadays. But the ability to recall
the precise details of Keane's career with Cobh remains.
He eagerly presents me with a Cobh Ramblers tie and pin badge from
a carrier bag which also holds his book and a signed Nottingham
Forest ball. He recommends I wear the tie at Keane's next press
conference. "He'll laugh his head off. He'll love it," he says,
although I cannot say I share his optimism. Last month, when he was
home to visit his father Mossie and mother Marie, Keane returned to
Cobh's St Colman's Park to see the current senior team maintain
their first division promotion challenge with a fortunate win over
Dundalk.
Keane stood to the right of the goal, just in front of the
clubhouse with some old pals chatting to the O'Rourke brothers and
former secretary John Meade until word got round Cobh that he was
back in town. O'Rourke says: "First thing he said to me was: 'What
UEFA badges have you got now?' I said I've got my UEFA B. He's got
the A now, with the pro-licence to do, and he says: 'You should do
the A licence. You will be learning all the time'. That really
struck me, coming from him. I might just do it."
Murphy's photo album of Keane's Rockmount days shows pictures of
Keane with and without his long hair, grinning and picking up
trophies and Murphy with his protege on his solitary visit to Old
Trafford as his guest over a decade ago. It was Murphy who came up
with his nickname, The Boiler Man. "He was the fella who mans the
furnace, gets things heated up and keeps it that way," says Murphy.
"He was the leader. When things went wrong, all I had to do was
roar at Roy and he'd do the rest."
Sunderland's visit to Turner's Cross this evening has long-since
been a 9,000 sell-out even the likes of O'Rourke, Murphy and
McMahon cannot get a ticket. The city's 43,000-seater hurling
stadium, Pairc ui Chaoimh, would also struggle to cope with the
demand.
Keane will be mobbed, of course, although it is difficult to see
the Jury's Hotel, team sanctuary on the banks of the River Lee,
being breached by anyone other than his family. But perhaps some of
those who put him on the road to fame and fortune will be welcomed,
too.
