Humble words from mighty stars

EVEN the statues must have known that something special was happening yesterday afternoon.

Crowds lined the streets from just after lunchtime and the busts of former Lords Mayor Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney looked on impassively. But they must have known.

The chants of "Keano, Keano" would have given the game away. The very real warmth and appreciation for Sonia O'Sullivan as she stepped out of her car would have sealed it. The closest Cork gets to sporting royalty, and both being rightly acclaimed in the one day.

Donal and Catherine from Blackstone Bridge were among the faithful waiting in line before Roy and Sonia received the freedom of the city. "He's one of our own," Donal said, while his 9-year-old son Eric, still in his school uniform, recalled visiting Old Trafford last year to see the Mayfield man in action against Blackburn Rovers.

Ger O'Regan revealed that, while he nipped out for a few hours to see Roy and Sonia receive their honours, his daughter Laura wasn't so lucky.

"She's doing her Leaving Cert and she's going mad," he said. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so we'll take it while we can."

With both the main players finally inside on a meet-and-greet, Roy and Sonia swapped chit-chat in the Lord Mayor's office. Sonia said she was delighted to be sharing such an honour with Roy, who was then asked if he would fancy the Lord Mayorship himself at some stage, what with the UCC law doctorate and freedom of the city already in the bag.

"Ah no, I'll leave that to real politicians," he said, sounding like a politician. He was also quizzed about I, Keano, a performance of which he viewed in Dublin recently.

"It was good," he said. "I have been known to laugh you know."

The party then went downstairs in time for the grand entrance into the concert hall. The councillors came in first before the Lord Mayor and guests of honour strolled into the tumult.

In his opening speech, Lord Mayor Martin hailed the duo as "two of the greatest sports people Cork, or Ireland, has ever produced".

Sonia, the Lord Mayor said, had married an unassuming manner with "the sterner stuff" of competition. As for Keano, Saipan and the fallout from the World Cup had been "his most courageous performance he had more to lose than anyone else".

Both Roy and Sonia looked a little embarrassed as moments from their sporting pasts were replayed on a screen in the concert hall. Poet Theo Dorgan feted the Cobh runner in his specially commissioned piece Running with the Immortals, a grand title but one where the action was set in the quotidian streets of Cobh, "the uphill and downhill capital of Ireland".

In her speech, Sonia acknowledged the affection of Corkonians throughout her career.

"It is much easier for me to assess the medals and titles I've had over the years because I know how hard I worked to achieve these medals and run those times," she said, before paying tribute to Roy and her partner Nic Bideau, who accompanied her on the day. "He is always behind me and always shows me the light at the end of the tunnel," she said.

The Ballad of Roy Keane, written for the occasion by Con Fada O'Drisceoil, had some of the councillors and crowd clapping along as it hailed the titular hero, the man whose name was chanted on the terraces and who was the antidote to the "hucksters and chancers, posers and bluffers".

Improbably, the piece included the line, "And Patrick Vieira will no longer scare ye" surely a first.

And then up popped Dr Roy, who was accompanied to the ceremony by his wife Theresa and his children.

Hands behind his back, he began by saying he was going to keep it brief. He was true to his word.

"I'm very proud and delighted and well done to Sonia, very well deserved as well. I think if I was to thank all the people that helped me we'd be here all night, but I'd like to thank everybody at Rockmount, Cobh Ramblers, Nottingham Forest, Manchester United and Ireland. I've been very lucky and, you know, I think I'd put it down to a lot of luck. I'd like to thank all my team mates and I'll leave it at that."

And leave it they did, with songs in their honour, engraved silver caskets in their pockets and applause ringing in their ears. Come back soon.