On This Day – 24th May
It’s not every day that the Republic of Ireland football team make the front and back pages of the newspapers. This was the case though on this day back in 2002 as the Republic’s captain Roy Keane fell out with manager Mick McCarthy and was sent home before the World Cup.
Republic of Ireland had done well to qualify for the 2002 World Cup. They had qualified from a group including Holland, Portugal, Andorra, Cyprus and Estonia.
A 1-0 home win over Holland in their final group game put Ireland into the Play-Offs where they faced Iran in a two-legged tie. Ireland won 2-1 over two legs and qualified for the Finals in Japan and South Korea.
Manager Mick McCarthy and captain Roy Keane had a falling-out in Saipan, where the Ireland team were preparing before the World Cup.
It all started over an interview that Keane gave to a newspaper and McCarthy objected to it, confronting his captain about it in a team meeting. Keane then argued back and vented his spleen at McCarthy who in turn, sent the Manchester United midfielder home.
The whole sorry state of affairs became known as ‘The Saipan Incident’ and made a lot of negative publicity. The press hounded Keane over the next few weeks and stayed outside his house, trying to get photos and interviews. An everlasting image of the event that sticks in my mind is of Roy Keane walking out of his home with his dog and cameramen following him down the road.
Ireland had quite a good World Cup, finishing second in their group with Germany, Saudi Arabia and Cameroon.
In their first game, they came from behind to draw 1-1 with Cameroon. In the second game, Robbie Keane scored a 92nd minute equaliser to give the Irish a deserved 1-1 draw with Germany.
They had to win their final game against Saudi Arabia to qualify for the last 16 and managed to do so, beating Saudi Arabia 3-0.
Robbie Keane scored his second last-minute equaliser in their Second Round game with Spain. The game went the distance but Spain went through 3-2 on penalties.
Mick McCarthy resigned from his role as the Republic of Ireland manager in the November of 2002, after two early defeats in the Euro 2004 qualification campaign.
Roy Keane returned to the Irish team on 27th May 2004 in a match against Romania. He retired from international football after Ireland failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
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