“I’m not a great one for lapping it up”

It was closing in on midnight at Turner’s Cross when Sunderland manager Roy Keane got time to reflect on pre-season progress, the League of Ireland and a sort of homecoming. Tony Leen listened in.

Q: It was nice for Liam Miller to score in Cork?

Roy Keane: “We spoke to the players at half-time about going out and expressing themselves, and we didn’t do that in the first half against Cork. They did a lot better in the second half, and I’m delighted for Liam, because he played particularly well in the second period. Being from Cork, it was nice for him to score. I think he’s a particularly good player, and it was important that himself and the lads went about expressing themselves, because they didn’t in the first half.”