Sick to the teeth of people praising the Irish fans for being 'the best fans in the world'? Tired of 'having' to watch Facebook videos of paddies cleaning the streets, fixing OAPs' wheels, singing with pop stars and generally having the craic? You may be. But you can't deny that a large part of you wants so badly to be out in France, drinking cold beers and singing until you're hoarse. Even Irish football's most famous son has acknowledged that sometimes he would rather be in the stands and bars than on the touchline in Euro 2016.
Roy Keane was asked about the hooliganism that we have seen at in Marseille and Lille so far and he used the question to praise the Irish fans from both sides of the border. Keane's answer shows that players and managers are keenly aware of what goes on outside the bubble of the team, and Irish fans will be pleased that they have the Corkman's seal of approval:
The headlines talk about the hooligans, but what about all the people having a great time? I don’t just mean the Ireland fans, you see it with the Swedish fans, Northern Ireland, Wales… I think there has been a lot of positives. It was shocking about the young kid dying from the North. That was shocking.
But the Irish fans, everywhere they go they seem to be having a good time and sometimes you wish you were with them.
But unfortunately for Keane, he doesn't have too much time to day-dream about 'cleaning up for the boys in green'. He and his squad have the small matter of Belgium to deal with on Saturday. Whilst Eden Hazard, Marouane Fellaini et al didn't have their best display against Italy in their opening game of the tournament, losing 2-0, their sickeningly talented squad is huge cause for concern for the Boys in Green. When asked by reporters if Ireland planned to man-mark Eden Hazard, Keane opined that man-marking is "over" as a practice-"people don’t even seem to man-mark Ronaldo"-but acknowledged that Hazard was "talented", joking that the Chelsea star would "have a chance of getting in our team!"
As for Fellaini, the big midfielder has had many detractors at Manchester United for what is generally perceived as an unfulfilling spell at the club. But Keane is of the view that Fellaini gets an unfair crack of the whip from punters at Old Trafford, and intriguingly suggested that the finger for United's failings should perhaps be pointed elsewhere.
I like him. I thought the criticism he had when he went to United was a bit over the top. I think it was just because he came in at the last minute when David Moyes was there and fans were maybe quick to jump on his back. I saw him a few times live when United weren’t great and thought he did okay. But he seemed to be the scapegoat for the fans.
I liked him at Everton and I think he’s a good player for Man United.
If anything, they should have been criticising the experienced players at United who weren’t helping him out or who weren’t helping out the new manager. But that’s another story.
Even if Fellaini has had a tricky season at club level, he remains an ever-present threat for Ireland, particularly at set-pieces. It will be a hard-fought result if Keane's charges manage to escape from Bordeaux with a point (or three), but one thing is for sure: the Ireland fans won't stop singing until the final whistle, whatever the result. And the Ireland assistant manager will be looking up at them with a smile, half wishing he could join in.
