When Roy Keane talks, you listen.
The Republic of Ireland assistant manager was in fine form on Tuesday afternoon as the country gears up for two games with Bosnia that will decide their Euro 2016 fate.
But with the pressure of win or bust looming over the players and the management, Keane was the same old insightfully witty constant. He was still Keane.
Keane on Ronaldo
Only a few days ago, three-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo praised the influence that the Cork man had on his career. He said he learned a lot from the former United skipper.
Roy, naturally, lapped it up.
“I made him. Only for me, he wouldn’t be where he is,” Keane quipped when asked about Ronaldo at Abbotstown.
“Obviously different players have different traits, how you speak to them, who you shout at and who you don’t. I didn’t shout at Ronaldo that much.”
Keane on scoring an away goal
“An away goal would be fantastic. Obviously. Two goals would be brilliant. Three…”
Keane on what Ireland have to do to qualify
“It’s very straightforward. We’ve got two games and, if we get the results, we qualify. If we don’t… we don’t qualify.
Keane on David Meyler
Keane went on to pay David Meyler huge praise “without analysing his technical ability” and stated that it isn’t a coincidence that teams win with him on the side.
“I like Meyler. Obviously I signed him – one of my better signings… that wouldn’t have been hard.
“Every time I’ve spoken to people about Meyler, he’ll never let you down. He’s a good character, I’ll give him that. And, without analysing his technical ability, he’s a good player, he’s a strong boy, he will do a job for us. It’s not a coincidence that every time I see Hull and they’re winning games, Meyler’s playing for them. He wasn’t involved as much during their relegation but he was on their promotion team and he’s back now and they’re winning games and Meyler tends to be in the team.
“That’s a good sign. I had a player like that at Sunderland, Dean Whitehead, where people used to question him. And I would just say, ‘every time he plays, we get a good result.’ Meyler won’t let us down if he gets involved on Friday night.”
