Roy Keane introduces the world to his grandson on Instagram

Roy Keane speaking with pupils of Dunderrow National School, Cork on their Christmas jumper day when he dropped into the school after fifth class pupil Noah Mehigan wrote a letter to his hero.

Few soccer names conjure up as much fear, awe, and general speaking in hushed tones as Mayfield midfield general Roy Keane.

Over the course of a career that took in a legendary nineties run at Manchester United, as well as spells at Cobh Ramblers, Nottingham Forest and Glasgow Celtic, Keane's take-no-prisoners style on the pitch, and famously standoffish manner off it made him an iconoclastic figure in the game.

That's also to say nothing of his time on the Irish national team - the word 'Saipan' immediately and invariably sparks debate among soccer fans of a slowly-appreciating vintage.

So news of Keane joining social media platform Instagram last week was a welcome Irish pop-culture moment - how would a singular figure, so often cast as dour and guarded, take to what many users refer to as 'their happy place'?

Quite well, as it turns out. 

Having shown flashes of irreverent humour in public in recent years, including a self-deprecating cameo on series 3 of The Young Offenders, Keane's Valentine's Day wishes to his new followers were accompanied by an archive picture of some on-pitch scuffles, playing off his hard-man image.

But even hardened soccer fans were surprised by his most recent post on the platform - a big hello from his grandson.

Roy Keane and his grandson

Well, maybe not so much 'big', as 'unimpressed'.

"Always smiling, just like his grandad," Keane wrote.

The post has drawn over half-a-million likes on the platform, and a mass of comments from longtime supporters. 

Many comments made ample reference to his straight-talking TV soccer punditry, while others have weighed in with genuine well-wishes.

"He better be two-footing people in the future, then, at United", went one response.

"Wait, what? Grandad?", wrote another Insta user, reflective of the surprise in certain corners of soccer fandom. "You’d still run rings around anyone in the Premiership."