Another pearl from killianm2 - now a stonewall nominee for Balls Man of the Decade - this week.
As they occasionally did during the Gay Byrne era, the Late Late devoted their entire nine hour show to a celebration of a famous figure in Irish life - in this case the finest Irishman to ever walk the planet, one Paul McGrath.
The show was broadcast on Friday, October 10, 1997.
Roy Keane had only recently taken umbrage at Alfie Haland mouthing at him for the entirety of the ninety minutes at Elland Road.
Roy decided to kick Haland and tore his cruciate ligament in the process. Unwisely, as it transpired, Haland presumed that Keane was faking and bawled him out of it as Roy lay prone on the ground, an incident to which Keano took even more umbrage.
Gay interviewed Roy (seated beside an unidentified woman, possibly his wife), dwelling on his recent spot of bad luck and the impact Paul had own his life.
He rang me last week after I found out about the injury. He says 'sorry to hear about your injury'. I said 'Thanks Paul for ringing'. And he said 'well you know now you have to be careful. It's a serious injury. Don't be going out and don't be drinking too much.' (whooping laughter) I said 'Paul, are you really giving me a lecture at the moment?' And he says 'you're right, I'm sorry' and he hung up.
