Roy Keane has revealed he only ever had cross words with his former Manchester United team-mate Denis Irwin on one occasion, as the duo appeared together on the latest Stick To Football podcast.
Irwin was an established United first team player under manager Alex Ferguson when Keane arrived at the club in 1993, with the two Cork natives quickly developing a bond as they became room-mates.
Keane’s notoriously spikey temperament could have made him a challenging companion, but they only had cross words on one occasion.
Their former United team-mate Gary Neville also appeared on the show and asked Irwin if he ever had a fall-out with Keane.
Denis Irwin and Roy Keane appeared on The Overlap.
“I’m sure we would have done,” replied Irwin. “Probably over flicking over TV or something like that.”
Keane then recalled a night when they had a bust-up as he interjected: “The only one I remember was after a game. Something happened, you had a few words with me. Was it Juventus?
“Every now and again we’d stay in a hotel the night after the game. It was the only one we went back to the room and it was a bit frosty.
“We kinda went after each other. That was the only just in 12 years, which wasn’t bad.”
Keane has admitted time and again that he has no regrets over his infamous bust-up with Mick McCarthy that saw him miss the 2002 World Cup finals and he repeated that stance when the subject was raised by Irwin.
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“I was doing media work for RTÉ Ireland well before I left United,” recalled Irwin, before he turned to Keane and said: “You made my job harder in 2002 at the World Cup, didn’t make it easy for me.”
Neville then asked Irwin for his verdict on the Keane vs McCarthy spat and he admitted it ‘divided the nation’.
“Having played with Ireland, you knew what an amateur association they were,” he said. “I don’t know the ins and outs of it because I’ve not really spoken to you (Keane) about that.
Denis Irwin has not discussed Saipan with Roy Keane.
“I can understand the balls not being there, the pitch being fairly ropey, I can fully understand that.
“It was an amateur association in the 1990s and it still was 10 years later. You got out there and it should have been the right training ground and all that.
Irwin then added “it split the country” and Keane was quick to respond as he said: “I don’t care!”