Rebel without a cause?

So with a heavy heart on Tuesday, we all rolled up the tricolours, took down the little flags from our cars and removed the strange thingies from our wing mirrors (kudos to whoever invented those, they looked awful but were very clever).

Even the most pessimistic observer would have struggled to correctly predict just how dismal the Irish performance would be at Euro 2012. Twenty four years is a long wait on the European stage, and while Ireland never had a chance of winning, the armchair army had at least expected a clutch of goals, some heroism and possibly more than just the three opening games. In the end, we witnessed the (joint) worst performance in the championship’s history, and the demise of some of the team’s biggest stars. And as the Green Army prematurely packed up in Poland, strangely the person bearing the brunt of public anger wasn’t one on the pitch, or in the management team – but was the same man who had divided the country by his actions ten years previous. Just why was everybody rounding on Roy Keane?

He didn’t play. He wasn’t the manager. To be fair to the man, even after the shambles of Saipan, he had again pulled on the green jersey towards the end of his playing career, putting country above any lingering anger. Now, he’s merely a pundit – a man who is paid to give his opinion. And that’s what he did.

After a shambolic team performance against the Spanish, the Irish fans in Gdansk treated Europe to a rolling rendition of the 'Fields of Athenry'. If Paddy Reilly was watching, he must have wondered what had happened to the rest of the lyrics, but it proved a wonderful distraction from what was happening on the pitch. The German TV commentator used the opportunity to head off and make tea on the pretence that this was a remarkable moment in football history, while the bosses at Fáilte Ireland rubbed their hands with glee at the free ad playing out before millions of viewers around the globe.

Having been a man in that crowd on many past occasions, I would imagine that it was pride in our country and unwavering support for our national team that spurred what was a spontaneous and almost stubborn act of defiance. It was a stunning performance by the fans, but was never going to be enough of a distraction from Ireland’s atrocious drubbing at the hands of the Spanish.

Those at ITV got caught up in it as well, asking their pundit Roy Keane for his reaction. To borrow a phrase, the nation held its breath – before the Mayfield man said "we’re a small country, we’re up against it, but let’s not just go along for the sing-song every now and again." Ouch. But there was more. Reacting to praise from the players for the fans, he went on, “I think the players and even the supporters, they all have to change their mentality, it’s just nonsense from players speaking after the games about how great the supporters are”.

Now, I for one think he has a point, but that’s not going to stop a baying mob. God forbid we might actually hold the players to account for their dismal performance. Roy wasn’t suggesting that those in Gdansk boo the players off the pitch, but they should demand a higher standard. Those who travelled had each spent a small fortune, and while the craic might have been mighty, the effort on the pitch fell far short.

In our collective attempt to ignore what happened on the pitch, we instead took refuge in an age-old argument that started in Saipan where Roy’s actions had an effect not just on the nation’s mood, but in the  games themselves. Now, he’s nothing more than a common-or-garden Giles or Dunphy. And I think the last thing he would ever have wanted was to become a fig leaf covering the mistakes over which he had no control. What summed it up for me was a nice lady who knocked on the studio window on Opera Lane on Tuesday, after the Italy match. She told me she was from Mayfield, and asked if I could get a message to Roy from her. “Tell him, he should grow up”, she said. I decided against asking if she knew all the verses to the Fields of Athenry…