He shared a tub with his Overlap co-hosts
Roy Keane doling out the sweets
It takes something really special to get Roy Keane excited – and he was positively glowing this week while talking about an iconic northside institution: Shandon Sweets.
Mayfield man Roy always brings his Leeside wit – and some unfiltered opinions – to the set when recording for The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast, but this time he brought something extra: tubs of treats from Cork’s oldest sweet shop. The Overlap team shared a video of Roy returning from a trip home and handing out sweets to his co-stars, enthusing about the much-loved Cork city store.
Bursting in on co-host Jill Scott while she was in the middle of getting her hair done, Roy explained: “That’s a famous shop in Cork. It’s a proper old-fashioned sweet shop. Oh, it’s class. I remembered speaking to [the owner] years ago, and he says, ‘If we ever get too big, we lose what we are.’ It’s nice and small, a bit different.” You can see the clip below:
The family-run shop on John Redmond Street in the shadow of Shandon tower has been a landmark in the area for years, managed by father-and-son duo Dan and Tony Linehan, who make their own treats in the traditional way, using the simple ingredients of just sugar, sucrose, water and natural flavours. Shandon Sweets is now approaching its 100th birthday, as it was launched way back in 1929.Taking the sweets from Roy, Jill spotted the date on the lid: “Established 1929. Same year as you, Roy.” While Keano isn’t quite that old, he has been looking back on his early days with nostalgia lately – even sharing a snap of an old passport, saying that his teenage self “didn’t have much, just a dream, great hair and a point to prove.”
His reflections might have been prompted by the release of the film Saipan, which dramatises the 2002 spat between Keane and ROI football manager Mick McCarthy, one of the most memorable moments in Irish soccer history. Glanmire actor Éanna Hardwicke stepped into Keano’s boots to portray the footballing legend, while Alan Partridge star Steve Coogan played McCarthy.
29-year-old Hardwicke said that the Irish premiere of Saipan in his hometown was “terrifying,” joking that he was so intimidated by having to watch the highly anticipated new film with hundreds of other Rebels that it felt like ‘climbing Kilimanjaro.’
