McCarthy defends old adversary

MICK McCARTHY has backed his former World Cup adversary Roy Keane after he was sacked by Ipswich.

After one of the most publicised fallouts in May 2002 Keane and his former Ireland team-mate and boss have since returned to talking terms and McCarthy said he had sympathy for the Corkman.

“I do actually, because he was a colleague as a manager and I don’t want to see managers losing their jobs. There’s no animosity between myself and Roy. I’ve spoken to him loads about players so I don’t like to see him lose his job — not at all,” said McCarthy.