Roy's Not Having Any of It

Roy Keane continues on his tack about Cork players being discriminated against by the suits in the FAI, citing his difficulties getting selected ahead of the Jackeens during his days as an underage player wearing the green shirt. It is, to be fair, a familiar argument from the era, and there many people from places other than Cork that complained about favoritism shown towards Dublin players. But that was done away with during Brian Kerr's successful tenure as underage manager, and today's Irish team boasts a far greater geographical spread than ever before, with the likes of John O'Shea, Stephen Ireland, Stephen Hunt (two Cork lads there, Roy), Kevin Doyle and Shay Given counterbalancing the Dubs on the panel. But Roy is right when he berates the Irish set-up for its lack of ambition and its willingness to settle for mediocrity. And, linked to the same RTÉ web page that this latest story appears on is Dunphy, the grand old man of Irish begrudgery flip-flopping over his old whipping boy Mick McCarthy. I'll have what he's having.