Fail to prepare and prepare to fail. The words of Roy Keane as he shattered the tranquillity of Ireland's World Cup squad in Saipan. The comment was one of many made by Keane on the eve of the 2002 finals. But that was the most memorable because it truly summed up his feelings at the time. Feelings which evolved from the biggest day of his young life as a footballer in Cork.Keane was due to play in an FAI Cup quarter-final replay for Cobh Ramblers youth team against Belvedere. As ever, several scouts would be in attendance on the Fairview Park pitch in north Dublin. Eddie O'Rourke, Keane's team manager, said to him: "This could be your day, kid, you never know."
Yet the day started so badly for the entire team. "Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong," says O'Rourke. "The bus was late, we were late togging off. We were mangled by Belvedere but Roy was head and shoulders above anyone on the pitch and destroyed them — despite the fact we lost 4-0. He was like a man possessed, even after they scored the fourth and the game was over he was running all over the pitch.
'Ronnie Fenton did the negotiating and Mr Clough came in halfway through. He gave my brother John a kiss and said: 'What are you going to do with the money?' He couldn't believe we were all working men who were going to give every penny to the club. He took a bottle of Paddy's out, poured everyone a glass and said: 'Give them what they want'.
"Mr Clough would have turned round and said 'no' if we had asked for that kind of deal. How could you tell a young fella like Roy his dream was over because we wanted more cash in the future? No way. At the end of the day, he put this club on the map and we have had plenty of return since.
"Forest were the making of him. We had never heard of things like upper-body strength. When he came back in his Forest blazer, he stood tall and proud and looked like a footballer. I have a photo of him with his four medals from the cups we won and he's stood there proud and beaming like he's won the World Cup."
"He was over here recently and still talking and joking about how shambolic we were that day. 'Fail to prepare . . .' I'm sure that's where it came from. But I knew that was his day. He always had nagging doubts and kept wondering if someone was ever going to spot him and offer him a chance in England."
Noel McCabe travelled to games across Dublin on his trusty motorbike, forever hoping that one day he would spot the youngster he could recommend to Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest — a youngster who would eventually be referred to daily by Cloughie as 'The Irishman'.
McCabe was the only scout to witness what O'Rourke had seen for months — that Keane was a natural-born footballer. He pinched himself when he arrived at the hotel where the defeated team were drowning their sorrows with orange juice. No other scout had bothered. O'Rourke recalls: "There was every kind of scout there that day, including Boy Scouts. I will always wonder what the others were watching."
Defeat was rare for the Cobh boys, who won four cups during Keane's last season, but McCabe arrived to offer a lifeline to the 18-year-old who had dreamed of becoming a professional footballer from the moment he won his first tackle on the street outside his Ballinderry Park home in Mayfield, a northern suburb of Cork.
O'Rourke and his brother John told Keane of Forest's interest but the youngster, then facing the prospect of the dole queue and afternoons watching Neighbours, shrugged it off. "He was sick of hearing that players were going over for trials," explains O'Rourke. "I don't think he really believed it was going to happen until he stepped on the plane after signing for Forest."
Among O'Rourke's most prized possessions is his copy of Keane's autobiography, in which he features prominently in the opening pages. His own inside page is signed by Keane, who held up the mile-long procession for his signature in Eason's bookstore in Patrick Street to write "Thanks for everything". "It meant so much. Such a lovely proud feeling," says the recipient. O'Rourke is reluctant to give interviews nowadays. But the ability to recall the precise details of Keane's career with Cobh remains.
He eagerly presents me with a Cobh Ramblers tie and pin badge from a carrier bag which also holds his book and a signed Nottingham Forest ball. He recommends I wear the tie at Keane's next press conference. "He'll laugh his head off. He'll love it," he says, although I cannot say I share his optimism. Last month, when he was home to visit his father Mossie and mother Marie, Keane returned to Cobh's St Colman's Park to see the current senior team maintain their first division promotion challenge with a fortunate win over Dundalk.
Keane stood to the right of the goal, just in front of the clubhouse with some old pals chatting to the O'Rourke brothers and former secretary John Meade until word got round Cobh that he was back in town. O'Rourke says: "First thing he said to me was: 'What UEFA badges have you got now?' I said I've got my UEFA B. He's got the A now, with the pro-licence to do, and he says: 'You should do the A licence. You will be learning all the time'. That really struck me, coming from him. I might just do it."
Murphy's photo album of Keane's Rockmount days shows pictures of Keane with and without his long hair, grinning and picking up trophies and Murphy with his protege on his solitary visit to Old Trafford as his guest over a decade ago. It was Murphy who came up with his nickname, The Boiler Man. "He was the fella who mans the furnace, gets things heated up and keeps it that way," says Murphy. "He was the leader. When things went wrong, all I had to do was roar at Roy and he'd do the rest."
Sunderland's visit to Turner's Cross this evening has long-since been a 9,000 sell-out — even the likes of O'Rourke, Murphy and McMahon cannot get a ticket. The city's 43,000-seater hurling stadium, Pairc ui Chaoimh, would also struggle to cope with the demand.
Keane will be mobbed, of course, although it is difficult to see the Jury's Hotel, team sanctuary on the banks of the River Lee, being breached by anyone other than his family. But perhaps some of those who put him on the road to fame and fortune will be welcomed, too.
