With the League of Ireland enduring a tougher than usual time at the minute, it was heartening for the League's stalwarts to see the photo shoot of the ex-LOI players in the Ireland squad posing in Versailles in their old kits.
After Ireland secured qualification last November, our John Dodge wrote about how Ireland couldn't have reached the Euros without the League of Ireland.
Roy Keane enjoyed seeing the photo. He took the chance the praise the influence of the League of Ireland in helping some of our most important players forge a great career.
It was really nice. We know over the years people have been really quick to criticise League of Ireland football but it's played a huge part in my career. And you so yesterday with the photograph - was it six or seven lads? - brilliant, really nice photograph. It was nice to see. No Ramblers players there but it was really good. Credit to the players. And for the criticism the League of Ireland gets, it's played a big part in these lads having a really, really good career.
Keane has spoken before about the worth of the League of Ireland. In a speech in UCC, he spoke about his experience playing for Cobh Ramblers during the 1989-90 season.
Before it had even begun, he was fined by the FAI. The relationship was never cloudless. He had earlier signed for Cork City upstairs in the Le Chateau bar in Cork. But they couldn't guarantee him a place on the FÁS course, where he would have the benefit of professional training for a year.
Cobh could offer him that so, he signed for them.
Cobh Ramblers endured a difficult 1989-90 season having been relegated from the top flight the year before. They finished in a lowly seventh spot in the Second Division after suffering an appalling start to the season. Roy's overall record would read Played :29 - Won: 9 - Drawn: 5 - Lost: 15 - Goals: 2.
Here are some press cuttings of games Roy played for Cobh in Kilkenny, Longford, Ballybofey and St. Colman's Park.
Buckley Park in Kilkenny holds the honour of being the site of Roy Keane's debut in senior football. Contemporary accounts marked the date down as the first step in the revival of football - in Kilkenny, that is.
Cobh were beaten 2-0.
The only impact Keane made in the estimation of the Kilkenny People reporter was shooting over the crossbar on 33 minutes.
Keane had a particularly eventful game at Abbeycartron on St. Stephen's Day, 1989 against Longford Town. He set up Denis Keane's goal, hit the crossbar with a header and almost scored a wonderful goal in injury time. Report in the Longford Leader.
According to a thread on Keane's Cobh career on Foot.ie, Roy arrived in Ballybofey for this game against Finn Harps on 28 January 1990 with five minutes left to kick-off. He had been playing a youths game in Dublin. This is a report from the Donegal News (3 Feb, 1990)
Roy's penultimate game for Cobh saw him score in the FAI Cup against St. Francis. However, Cobh were held to a 2-2 draw and then got spanked 3-0 in the replay three days later, Roy's final game in the League of Ireland.
Roy's Cobh record...
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