Roy Keane makes surprise visit to Co Cork school

A young Cork pupil’s dream came true when his sporting hero made a surprise visit to his school on Friday.

Children and staff at Dunderrow National School outside Kinsale, Co Cork, were “in awe” listening to football legend Roy Keane, who called in in response to a letter from fifth class student Noah Mehigan.

The former Manchester United and Ireland captain answered questions about his career from fifth- and sixth-class students.

The school wrote on its website that the sports star was “an inspiration to all young sports people that you can achieve anything with hard work”.

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It said the children and staff were “in awe” listening carefully to Roy speaking about his career as a professional footballer.

Noah’s letter was part of a school assignment where fifth-class students wrote to their heroes around one month ago.

School principal Triona Hannon said it was a “dream day” for the students and the “icing on the cake” to end her first term as principal. “It was a complete surprise to the kids . . . they recognised him straight away and really were so shocked,” she said.

Ms Hannon said former Ireland assistant manager was an “inspiration” to children and staff – even for those who are not football fans. Keane spent about an hour answering questions about his professional football career from fifth- and sixth-class students.

She said he spoke about how he has been chasing his dreams since he was 10 years old. “They were so engaged. You could have heard a pin drop . . . he was so lovely and the children were really inspired,” she added.

Ms Hannon said it was a “surreal” moment watching Keane walk away from the school following the talk, just as the pre-booked Santa Claus pulled up in a fire engine.

While the senior pupils got to meet Keane, the junior pupils were delighted with a visit from Santa, she said. “It really was a dream day . . . I don’t know how we are going to top this,” she said.

The trip to Dunderrow school was the latest in a series of surprise visits made by Roy Keane. Last month the Cork native visited a soup kitchen charity, Cork Penny Dinners, to lend his support ahead of its busy Christmas period.