Never a dull moment in green for memory man Kelly

His official title might be Goalkeeping Coach but, as far as the media are concerned, Alan Kelly also doubles as a superb tour guide for trips down memory lane.

So, with the minnows from the North Atlantic about to wash up on our shores, the affable Kelly is the obvious man to ask about an occasion when Ireland spectacularly came undone against another team of little ‘uns – away to Liechtenstein in a Euro qualifier back in 1995.

Jack Charlton was the manager and Kelly was the man between the posts for a match in Eschen which, in the immortal words of the late journalist Peter Ball, saw “Ireland held 0-0 by a mountaintop”.

Happily, Kelly can laugh now.

“I kept a clean sheet,” he points out with mock pride. “They had one shot on target and I think we had 42 efforts flying off backsides and pieces of grass and all sorts. Their one effort was in the 73rd minute. I had seen nothing of the ball and the lad came through on the corner of the box. He was absolutely shaking in his boots so when he got closer, I just went (throws out arms, screws up face and roars at top of voice) ‘WAAAAAAH!!!’ His knees were knocking and he was absolutely gone. He smashed it into me and I said, ‘thank you very much’.”

In the modest little ground which Liechtenstein called home, Kelly also remembers Jack Charlton blowing his top after yet another Ireland chance had gone a-begging.

“I think it was John Sheridan chipped it over the keeper and it was bouncing through but this lad somehow cleared it, it came off the bar and came out, and then Aldo missed it on the way in. On the sideline, there were two schoolboy benches and a bunch of balls. Jack kicked the balls against the benches and they all went on the pitch and he was out trying to get them all back off the pitch again. I’d a great view of the whole thing, the mountains, the pitch, Jack…”

Kelly is confident that Ireland, with Robbie Keane set to break the caps record as he leads the line, won’t suffer similar frustration against the Faroe Islands tomorrow. Three years after Liechtenstein, Kelly remembers Keane coming into the senior squad for the very first time.

“The grass was that long we couldn’t see him,” he laughs. “Shy? No, he wasn’t shy at scoring goals, that’s for sure. He probably did my prolapsed disc, banging them all in. Right from the off, he wanted to play and he wanted to score – whether that was on the training pitch or in a qualifier or a friendly. He was never afraid to receive the ball or take a chance, always available. He stood up to be counted.”

And Kelly doesn’t believe Keane has received enough. “I can’t believe he’s not held up as a national icon. I will never forget the Germany game in 2002. The celebrations after that goal. I went down the touchline but they were all finished by the time I got there, I was so slow. But that was him scoring that goal, getting in there and doing it and creating that massive atmosphere. It has taken until now for people to say ‘wow, look at this fella, what an icon’.”