O'Brien, Keegan's very own Brazilian Zico clone

90s MIDFIELDER WILL ALWAYS BE FONDLY REMEMBERED FOR ROKER PARK HEROICS

- By LEE RYDER Chief Newcastle writer [e-mail] @lee_ryder

NEWCASTLE United fans still sing his name to this day but, despite being a cult figure on Tyneside, Liam O'Brien has rarely spoken about anything but his derby goals for the Magpies.

Or at least until now, after the ex-Republic of Ireland international decided to put his life story into print in Pass Master - an excellent autobiography with Pitch Publishing.

O'Brien was always deemed a cultured midfielder with a superb range of passing and survived a series of managers at St James' Park as he played under Colin Suggett, Jim Smith, Ossie Ardiles and Kevin Keegan between 1988 and 1994.

The Dubliner was signed from Manchester United and went through something of a black and white roller-coaster after enduring injury pain, relegation, promotion, derby joy and a taste of the Premier League - scoring the club's first goal in the revamped top flight.

Long before the dubious goals panel was introduced in 2007, O'Brien stepped up to take a trade mark free-kick in a 2-1 defeat, and that turned out to be Newcastle's first goal in the Premiership.

In his book, O'Brien says: "In our second game, away to Coventry City, I did start but we lost again, this time 2-1. There was, however, a sweetener for me.

"This time I did find the net from a long-range free-kick, but only after the ball took a wicked deflection off a Coventry City player.