This piece originally appeared on JOE.ie in November 2015, with Ireland yet to confirm their place at Euro 2016.
Hopefully, Robbie Keane – 145 caps (before Oman) and 67 goals – will now get the credit his incredible Ireland record deserves…
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We thought it was finally going to happen.
Jim McGuinness stood up among the audience, regarded the Good Wall in front of him, rubbed his chin and spoke up.
“I’m going to bring in someone I admire very much. I can’t believe he’s not in there already, his record speaks for itself…”
For a moment, I thought the whole basis for this feature was about to be scuppered, that one of the greatest Irish sporting talents of all time was about to finally get some recognition on this country’s equivalent of the Hollywood Walk of Fame… from the most unlikely of sources.
McGuinness demurred a few seconds longer before choosing to move the great Mick O’Dwyer to the top of the rankings, and shuffle Roy Keane up to second.
Another Keane, meanwhile, remains cruelly unloved.
Robbie Keane’s continued omission from the wall speaks volumes about our apathy towards Ireland’s captain and leading goalscorer.
Second Captain, Eoin McDevitt doesn’t understand how the Tallaght man has never made it up there.
“I’m amazed that the show has been running for nearly thirty episodes and not a single sportsperson has put Robbie on the Good Wall,” he tells JOE.
The Good Wall
On paper, Keane should be adored. He has 67 goals for his country in 142 appearances, making him the fifth-highest scoring European in international competition ever. Ever.
A sizable 44 of those goals have come in competitive internationals, and he still regularly makes himself available for friendly matches despite turning 35 last July and living on the West Coast of the United States.
Keane with Steven Gerrard
His participation in qualifying games for major tournaments, when even half fit, has always been taken for granted.
Yet you get the feeling that even were a pensionable Keane to drag Ireland single-handedly into the European Championships final and score a last minute winner against England, he still wouldn’t trouble Sonia O’Sullivan and AP McCoy on the wall of ultimate judgement.
McDevitt believes that Keane’s relative lack of success at club level counts against him in the public’s perceptions.
Eoin McDevitt
“The footballers who have made it on there (the likes of Roy Keane, Brady and McGrath) have all had huge careers at club level,” he says. “Robbie’s relative lack of success at that level is clearly counting against him.
“If I had to choose between Robbie’s 67 Ireland goals and Marcus O’Sullivan’s 100-odd sub-4 minute miles, I know which way I’d go!”
Assuming he’s not voicing a preference for Ireland’s former middle distance runner, McDevitt seems to be in the minority.
Failure to grab legendary status at any one club in England is certainly the most tangible reason why Keane has never truly struck a chord with his own people, given the Irish obsession with the Premier League.
Keane and Berbatov formed a deadly partnership at Tottenham
He threatened it in his first spell at Tottenham, forming the partnership of his career with Dimitar Berbatov between 2006 and 2008, but an ill-fated spell at Liverpool and the start of Keane’s love affair with the 13 or 14 clubs of his youth (we’re certain he never uttered the words, “I’ve been a Hammers fan my entire life,” but mud sticks) meant that he’d always be seen as a moderately successful journeyman.
Conversely, his loyalty to Ireland has never been in question; when Keane said in a recent interview with RTÉ that he never cared so much where he played football, he just wanted to be playing football on a regular basis, it rang true.
Sacrificing legendary status at a single English club in order to just keep playing should be applauded, especially given the length and breadth of Robbie Keane’s service in green, but the failure to play beyond six months with one of the more popular Premier League clubs in Ireland has cost him the kind of adulation handed down as default to a Brogan, a Shefflin, or a Tommy Bowe.
It simply shouldn’t be the case, as Robbie Keane is arguably the most gifted player of any sport in Irish history and deserves his place at the top table.
There may be the LA lifestyle, the beautiful wife and a swagger ill fitting to one of our own from Tallaght, but he’s never let us down and almost a half century of competitive goals speaks volumes for the man’s professionalism and guile.
Chances are we won’t realise what we had until it’s gone, and if Ireland fail to beat Bosnia and qualify for Euro 2016 then we’re almost certain to have seen the last of a great player in front of his home crowd.
Maybe then, at least, we’ll get him up on that wall.
