Roy's a national treasure

IPSWICH Town's players will swap the grey and rainy skies of Ireland for the sunshine of Portugal today - but it won't just be the weather change that Roy Keane and his squad will be looking forward to.

The trip to Irish Division One side Finn Harps on Tuesday night was as much of a PR exercise as it was a chance to gain some early pre-season fitness.

Keane still holds megastar status across the Emerald Isle and he was reminded as much during his 24 hours in County Donegal.

Every back page and every radio bulletin hailed Keane's return to his homeland - specifically to Finn Park, the venue where he made his full debut for Cobh Ramblers almost 20 years ago back in 1989.

Over 1,000 locals of the tiny town of Ballybofey braved severely inclement conditions to get a slice of their hero and, to be fair, Keane took his time to sign every autograph that was asked of him.

During the game every single one of Town's Irish contingent - Garvan, Delaney, McAuley et al - were given rapturous applause for each meaningful kick of the ball. In a way, the local lads from Finn Harps rather ruined the party.

Post-match it was decided that, in order to accommodate the mass of Irish press that had travelled from all over the country, the press conference would be moved to a room in the hotel the squad were staying in over the road. The only problem was that those in charge hadn't quite bargained just how long it would take to move Keane no more than 100 yards across a public street.

A sea of fans blocked his path and eventually hotel staff and stewards gave up trying to maintain order and began to join in themselves. “It's not every day you get Keano in town is it?” reasoned one 'on duty' member of staff.

Once all the hype had died down, Keane sat down at his press conference and, try as he might, a broad grin spread across his face. “Your thoughts Roy,” opened one journalist. “I enjoyed it,” said Keane. “I really enjoyed it.”

Enjoy it he might have done, but with plenty of business to be done in the coming weeks Roy Keane will no doubt be looking forward to four days at a private location in Portugal before Keane-mania kicks off once again with a return to Ireland.