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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Robert Hynes

How two Cork GAA fans ended up in iconic Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy photo

A Cork native has explained how he and his father ended up pitch-side as Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy shook hands in public for the first time since their infamous Saipan fallout.

Keane's Sunderland headed to Molineaux to face McCarthy's Wolves in November 2006, with the pair set to be seen in public together for the first time in over four years.

The match finished 1-1, but it was the handshake between the pair prior to kick-off that everyone remembered.

READ MORE: Everton fans make Roy Keane call as pressure mounts on Frank Lampard

However, right behind Keane in the iconic photo is a father and son wearing Cork GAA jerseys.

Cobh Ramblers' media officer James O'Donogue uploaded the snap on social media recently, asking how Roy's fellow countymen got pitch-side prior to the game.

Among those to respond to the tweet was Graeme Barry, the young boy in the picture, who attended the match with his father.

He explained: "Won a comp on 96FM for trip over. Got into stadium early, up in the gods. Dad got chatting to stewards claiming we were Roy's family, over for the match. They let us down pitch side bring us through the VIP section. Told us to stand by the tunnel and try to catch his eye coming out.

"Players walked out followed by Roy. Dad said come on we go up to him, handshake took place, Roy turned to us, shocked looked and said 'Jesus lads, what are ye doing here'? Dad said, 'Southsiders have your back tonight Roy'. Roy smirked, shook our hands and said enjoy the game."

Keane revealed in his autobiography 'The Second Half' how he lost the plot at half-time during the clash with his side trailing 1-0.

He said: "That was another night I lost my rag. We were 1-0 down at half-time; we were shocking.

"I told Cookie (kit manager John Cooke) to get the tactics board out and I did a bit of a Bruce Lee on it. I think the players were distracted by the whole Keane-McCarthy stuff.

"And I have to ask myself the question, was I extra angry because I didn't want to lose to Mick McCarthy's team? I'd hope not. But we were on TV and we were ****.

"Poor Cookie had to spend ages looking for all the little players off the tactics board.

"We drew 1-1 but we were lucky. Our goalkeeper Darren Ward kept us in the game, and our goal, a shot by Stevie Elliott, was deflected."

Although that 2006 fixture was the first public meeting of Keane and McCarthy since Saipan, they had met in private prior to the game.

Keane wrote: "Mick McCarthy was managing Wolves and he rang me about a player; I think it was Neill Collins, who he wanted to take on loan.

"He rang me direct, straight through to my office. 'All right, Roy?' We chatted about the player, and about this and that. It wasn't an awkward conversation, and I was glad he'd rung me.

"It had crossed my mind that we'd be meeting during the course of the season. Our teams would be playing against each other, we were bound to meet.

"I think it was Mick who suggested we meet up for a chat; we both thought it was a good idea.

McCarthy and Keane in 2001 (©INPHO/Patrick Bolger)

"We met at the Four Seasons Hotel, near Manchester Airport, and it was a bit like the meeting with Niall (Quinn), a nice anticlimax.

"I said I was sorry about what happened in Saipan. I'm not sure I had anything to apologise for. But you try to move on.

"But that was that. It was important, and I'm glad it happened. We were playing Wolves, away, in November, on a Friday night. The media were all over it, and the game was live on Sky.

"The build-up to the game was all 'Are they going to shake hands?' But we'd already met and we'd kept that to ourselves. So it was no big drama for us.

"We shook hands before the game, but it wasn't prearranged. It's standard practice. The only difference this time was that there were 50 cameramen around us."

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