The big kick-off

Éanna Hardwicke on playing Ireland's Roy Keane in a film about the bust-up that sent him packing from the 2002 World Cup

- By Marc Baker

CAPTAIN Roy Keane’s bust-up with Ireland manager Mick McCarthy ahead of the 2002 World Cup is the stuff of legend, so Éanna Hardwicke knew he had big football boots to fill.

The Normal People actor, playing Keane in a film about the infamous Saipan incident, says playing the hotheaded hardman petrified him.

Éanna, 29, added of his preparation: “Roy’s side of this story is so well documented it was pretty much live-streamed as the row happened. He gave interviews and then wrote two books on it all.

“I felt I had enough to go on so my preparation was absorbing everything.

“I locked myself in my bedroom. It was my brother’s attic at the time and I ended up talking to myself for four weeks.

“But at some point you have to forget the public person and their persona. The script was great and showed the private side to Roy you never see in the sporting arena.

“I guess it was all about going, ‘What would you do if you were in that situation?’ At the same time you have got to embody it in your own way.”

The warts-and-all movie, which opens in cinemas on Friday, is named Saipan after the tiny island to which the Irish team were flown to prepare for their World Cup campaign.

Keane had a very public, very bitter disagreement with McCarthy, reportedly being furious at the training conditions, strategy, travel arrangements, diet and McCarthy’s competence.