Updated at 02.15
THE LATEST DISPUTE between Roy Keane and Eamon Dunphy is part of a long-running love-hate relationship between the pair.
The relationship now appears to have turned sour, but there was a time when the two were thought to be more or less inextricably linked, as this timeline shows…
1990-2001: Dunphy’s admiration for the Ireland star grows as he gradually develops into one of the Premier League’s best players. During the height of Keane’s powers, Dunphy says on RTÉ that he’d have Keane in a team rather than any other player in the world, including Zinedine Zidane — who was widely regarded as the world’s best player around the late 90s/early 00s.
2002: Keane, Ireland’s best player at the time, sensationally falls out with Mick McCarthy just prior to the 2002 World Cup and departs the squad — whether he quit or was sent home is still a matter of heated debate to this day. Most pundits condemn Keane for his behaviour, however Dunphy staunchly defends him for sticking to his principles and refusing to accept the supposedly mediocre standards in the team’s training camp. Dunphy is so invested in defending Keane that ultimately falls out with fellow pundit and friend John Giles over the argument, with the pair refusing to speak to one another for a period.
The relationship between Keane and Dunphy was heavily satirised as a result of these events.
2003: Keane: The Autobiography, the star’s first book, ghost-written by Dunphy, is released. There is much controversy surrounding a passage where Keane was alleged to have admitted to deliberately injuring then-Manchester City player Alf Inge Haaland. He is forced to defend himself at an FA hearing and Dunphy is called as a key witness, with Keane ultimately receiving a five-match ban for his actions.
2005: Keane leaves Manchester United after a controversial MUTV interview in which he heavily criticises several of the club’s players, while his relationship with boss Alex Ferguson and assistant Carlos Queiroz was also becoming increasingly strained. Dunphy again vehemently defends Keane on RTÉ.
2006: All still appears to be rosy between the pair, as Dunphy appears as a guest at Keane’s testimonial match between Manchester United and Celtic after announcing his retirement.
2007: Dunphy praises Keane’s early forays into management, as he helps Sunderland get promoted in his first year there.
2009: Keane attacks the Irish team following their infamous aggregate loss to France during a crucial World Cup 2010 qualifying playoff. Dunphy hits back saying that Keane’s comments were inappropriate and suggesting he looked like “a very angry man” and that needs “to move on” from the Saipan arguments. He adds that Keane has become a “media tart who is all over the place”.
Keane also appears on The Late Late Show and denies himself and Dunphy were ever “friends” despite their working relationship.
2012: Dunphy criticises Keane, suggesting he’s “lost the plot,” after the Manchester United legend hammers the Ireland players and fans following some shambolic performances at Euro 2012.
October 2013: In an interview with TV3, Dunphy reveals that Keane’s agent Michael Kennedy rang the pundit to rebuke him for publicly criticising Keane. “I got a phone call from Michael Kennedy saying: ‘What’s going on here Eamon? You’re criticising Roy.’ I said, ‘Well I’m a sports writer, Michael!’ Michael: ‘Yeah but we hired you’, I said ‘but you didn’t hire me for life! Are you gonna pay me now? ‘Cause if you are, I’ll give up the sports writing and go work for Roy as a PR man!’”
Dunphy also dismisses Keane’s chances of becoming Ireland manager in the wake of Giovanni Trapattoni’s departure, telling TheScore.ie that “he doesn’t like people”.
November 2013: Keane is announced as Ireland assistant manager with Martin O’Neill named as manager. After admitting to some initial reservations, Dunphy says he is behind the move, after speaking about it with with “football people like John Giles”.
June 2014: Amid reports that Keane is set to accept an offer to become Aston Villa assistant boss, Dunphy claims it would be “madness” for him to undertake both roles. He does anyway.
October 2014: Details of The Second Half, Keane’s forthcoming autobiography, are leaked, including a passage where he suggests Dunphy did him no favours during the subsequent FA hearing over the Alf Inge Haaland-related passage (see 2003), where the pundit was supposed to be defending him.
Dunphy then hits back at Keane, telling Today FM: “I hung myself out to dry. I said I made the whole thing up. I sort of threw myself under the bus. And he’s actually quoted in this book as saying he has no regrets about the Alfe Inge Haaland thing.”
He also accuses Keane of “bullsh**ting” in his Irish Daily Star column.
Didn’t Donegal play Tyrone in the first round? And Dublin will play Kildare in the next round, as will Cork and Kerry, and it’s not the GAAs fault that Galway have melted into a shambles. We would then have had Mayo v Galway too in the first round. All of this before the end of June. Then you have the real payoff, the excitement of seeing the very best teams against each other in August and September, the way any worthy competition should be. The GAA has plenty of flaws but I think this article is a very unfocused knee-jerk reaction to a few hidings dished out by teams on top of their game.
Dave agree entirely
A Dubs fan
Lot of people talking about Mayo this year but where have we heard that before
Wouldn’t write off Kerry either S a lot of people seem to be doing
I’m a Dubs man meself Declan. I think this Mayo team is a different proposition from previous years, there’s a hard edge to them which I think makes them serious contenders.
I think Dublin, Donegal, Cork and Mayo are all around the same level (one from each province too, which is nice) then there’s Tyrone, Kerry and Kildare a level just below that. 7 realistic contenders for the All Ireland, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Yes agree 7 teams with varying degrees of optimism
If they had that in the premiership they would be laughing!!
Mayo have new fitness coach so let’s see
A dubs fan passing a comment about another team being over hyped early in the year.. Oh the irony!
San Marino get hammered every time they play but you don’t see fifa changing around the format of the European/world cup qualifiers so they can win a few games
If counties are not up to the standard why should the gaa change around the format to try and suit them, the football championship is very strong and some teams will get left behind
They change the format every few tournaments! And they do it to allow a more desirable geographic spread off WC finals competitors
The fact that there are eight competitive teams places the Gaa in an enviable position . It can’t be said of other codes. How many EPL winners have there been since its inception . The GAA championship compares very Favourably. It’s not long since Dublin and Donegal were on the wrong end of a few such drubbings . In 2011 London almost beat mayo who then made an all Ireland semi final , beating the all Ireland champions en route. Louth contested a Leinster final . Wexford likewise on a couple of occasions. Similar knee jerk reaction were pedalled out in 2010 when none of the provincial finalists reached the semi finals . September is the time to make a more considered judgment
GAA is fine as is.
If other counties want to perform they can pay for more training sessions and try and get more people to come to the matches.
I agree in part. But I don’t think it means we need to rearrange the format of the championship. Every time a team gets hammered some people talk about the need to level the playing field. The system is fine. It has been changed once, with the back door, if they change it again like they did with the league over and over again people will lose interest.
We had years of Galway hurling people blaming the structure of the championship for them not winning, now it’s the championship structures that Galway footballers are rubbish,
Derry were not well beaten, in fact they played some of the best football of the championship to date in the best game to date. Diagonal balls to Bradley and his destruction of Down defense in first half was a joy to watch.
Westmeath got a day out in croker they saw the level they need to aspire too its all a learning curve / and that’s always the way it’s been how else are you going to improve
The money and the people involved with the Dublin team vs small counties like w.meath is very unfair.Maybe a large populace county like Dublin should field two teams a city and county team.
As Kerry do each year and how All Ireland’s have they won with a small population
The whole thing is a farce lets do away with the provincials 8 groups of 4 top 2 into the the A final bottom 2 to a B Final and in the last 16 -an open draw when your out you are out at least the teams in the final get to play the same amount of games.
Yeah, everyone would get three games and the eventual finalists would get 7. Seems fair
I wouldn’t do an open draw for the last 16 though. I’d run it like a Heineken Cup. The best performing team plays worst and so forth, to reward consistent good play
The championship is fine the way it is. They should give division 3 and 4 teams home advantage when playing division 1 teams.
The championship format is fairly rubbish to be honest. It’s not fair in my opinion to the Ulster teams especially. The Connaught and Munster Championships and somewhat Leinster are absolute dire. They should have a Champions League style format of 8 groups of 4 teams and the top 2 from each group enter the Last 16 of the All Ireland with the top from each group playing a 2nd placed team. The groups would also be seeded from their National League position meaning all Division 1 teams would be in a separate group and so on. At least every team would get 3 Championship games, the prospect of an open draw would also do much to enhance the game….and I’m not from Ulster!
I don’t see how ulster is any better. Donegal are near certainties for ulster this year and that will be 3 in a row and before them Tyrone and Armagh shared it for the previous ten years.
Leinster and ulster have to win more games to win an all Ireland however which is definitely unfair.
Kerry and cork basically don’t have to do anything until August because the rest of Munster are light years behind them. This is extremely unfair on the rest and plays a large part in Kerry’s success in my opinion despite their producing some excellent teams.
Some people suggest that it’s better for Kerry/Cork to take the back door route as they get more competitive games. As it is they get to play Each other in their only tough match before Aug and arrive untested into the Knockout stages.
These two scenarios get played out whenever Kerry/cork reach the QF and either win easily or lose comfortably.
If they get to QF by winning munster and win easily its cos they are fresh from easy matches. If they lose its cos they are untested.
For decades ulster was the weakest province, now it’s the most competitive. Why, they work hard but helped as all the counties place football number one. In Munster only Kerry place football 1, all the others are hurling or 50/50 in corks case. Munster will never have 6 strong teams
Maybe picky, but Derry WERE Division 2 and Down WERE Division 1, but Derry got promoted, Down got relegated, so division 2 team beat division 1 team.
(Best game if championship so far – great advert for GAA)