Quinn ‘regrets’ Saipan debacle

SOCCER legend Niall Quinn has revealed he regrets getting involved in the infamous Saipan row when his teammate Roy Keane exited the World Cup.

He said he looks back on the saga which hit the headlines around the world now as “crazy stuff”.

The former international footballer, who is featured getting stuck into life on the racecourse in the latest RTÉ episode of Hanging with Hector, said he should never have become involved in the argument.

He said: “As players we got caught up in the middle and that was unfortunate. If I was back again I’d say ‘you two sort it out yourselves, I don’t want to know anything about it’. Looking back it’s easy to say it was crazy stuff.

“Roy was very much doing his own thing. He came out and had his idea of how things were going to go and wasn’t happy with the way things were. We didn’t care. We mucked on, Irish players always did and that wasn’t good enough for him.

“We didn’t understand what the situation was with him and where he was coming from and we got fed up with him.

“Roy decided to walk, Mick decided to tell the world he sent him.”

He admitted that he probably wouldn’t have much to say to Roy Keane if he met him.

“I would probably say as much as he’d say to me.”

He said footballers today are “doing what the popstars and film stars do”.

He added: “They’re all icons now.”

In the latest episode of Hanging with Hector, the presenter is by the footballer’s side as they go ecstatic over his horse, Halmahera’s history-making third Portland Handicap race win.

The madcap presenter is with the footballer and his wife, Gillian, when they later get stuck in a lift in Doncaster on their way to the celebrations.

The Irish player, who is building a dream home in Kildare, said he loves togging out for his local Eadestown GAA club.

He said: “We’re intermediate B and we could be going up next year.

“I came on as a sub at the first game. It was funny, they were charging €3 in at the gate and the chairman there couldn’t believe how much money there was because a lot of people turned up out of novelty.

“The manager didn’t put me on because I hadn’t proved myself and the chairman spent a long time arguing with him saying ‘put him on, put him on, people have spent a fortune’.”

He added, with a laugh: “I went on and that was grand.

“The second game was a week later, it was my first start. We got three penalties and I scored the three of them.

“I was coming off the field and I went to shake the hand of the guy who was marking me and he said, ‘you f**ker you wouldn’t take one against Spain’,” recalled Quinn.

Hanging with Hector will be screened on RTÉ1 tonight at 10.15pm.