I, Keano: all for the glory of the Republic of home

JUST when you think you’ve heard all the great Irish football stories, along comes one that goes straight into the top ten.

Niall Quinn told it at a recent fundraising dinner for the Retired International Players' Fund in Dublin and, if the uproarious reaction on the night is anything to go by, this is a yarn that, despite much stiff opposition, could yet go all the way to Number 1.

The setting was the Irish dressing room in Rome in the immediate aftermath of the 1-0 defeat to hosts Italy, in the quarter-final of the 1990 World Cup. Contrary to the popular myth of the team of that era as the happy-go-lucky Irish, determined to have a party come what may, the post-match scene as described by Quinn was one of emotional devastation.