LAST UPDATE | 9 Nov 2021
THE IRISH FOOTBALL team has the capacity to vivify a nation in a single moment, just as it can animate discrete, personal histories.
Aidan Keane was born in Sligo but was orphaned, moved to a home and then to boarding school in Dublin, from where he was adopted and moved to Manchester. It was there he was brought up and lost his connection with the country of his birth.
He had children of his own, and his twin sons caught the city’s love of football. Both went into the Manchester United academy but their paths would diverge, beginning at underage international level. Will was picked to represent England but his brother Michael was overlooked, which alerted the late Sean McCaffrey, who brought the latter over to play in the Irish ranks.
Though the brothers’ paths diverged they would ultimately criss-cross: Will never made it beyond the England’s U20 team, whereas Michael has played 12 times for their senior team.
And now Will is wearing green, having taken a call from Mick McCarthy in 2019 to explore his eligibility.
He didn’t earn a call-up during McCarthy’s brief and highly-circumscribed second tenure, but was brought in for the first time under Stephen Kenny last month. He didn’t make it in either of the matchday squads in October, though a groin niggle cost him vital training time.
He is back in the group for this week’s qualifiers against Portugal and Luxembourg and hoping to lose his status as the only uncapped member of the squad. Even though he has yet to play, however, he has started tightening the loose bonds between his father and his homeland.
“Unfortunately my Dad lost touch with his roots for obvious reasons, as he was given away as a child”, says Keane. “But to sort of reconnect with that and have the opportunity to represent Ireland is a massive honour and something I’m really proud of doing.
“Because of the circumstances he hasn’t stayed in touch with his family, so for him to reconnect with that is a massive thing, so he’s really proud. For me to give him that gives me a lot of pleasure.”
Aidan travelled over to Dublin for the Qatar friendly last month, and is hoping to make it over for the sold-out Portugal clash on Thursday.
There is a practical element to all of this, too: injury has greatly dimmed Keane’s shining potential, but finally fit and playing regularly well with Wigan in League One, he still has the opportunity of a senior international career.
“I mean when I was a young lad, I was approached by England first, that was the option that was there on the table, and that’s what I did at the time.
“My Dad didn’t really have much input. At the end of the day, it’s my decision, he respects what I do. When I first heard of the opportunity to play for Ireland, that was the decision I made. I wanted to focus on that and that was my ambition to get around the squad. It’s nice he can reconnect with his birth place but, for me, it’s the opportunity to represent the country and give everything I’ve got.”
Keane, along with James McClean, is part of a Wigan side that has rocketed to the top of League One. He has scored seven league goals so far this season, but perhaps more significantly, has started every single game. He made 32 league appearances last season too, hinting his injury days are finally behind him.
Keane was highly-regarded at Old Trafford, and won the FA Youth Cup in a team that featured Paul Pogba and Ravel Morrison. He made two senior appearances for the club, one a league defeat to Blackburn on New Year’s Eve in 2011.
A cruciate knee ligament injury at United took him out for the whole of the following season, and after loan spells with Wigan, QPR, Sheffield Wednesday and Preston, a terribly-timed groin injury cost him his final chance at Manchester United.
Keane made the United squad for a 2016 FA Cup tie with Shrewsbury ahead of Marcus Rashford, and Louis van Gaal summoned him on as a substitute for Anthony Martial. He was soon withdrawn with a groin problem, and three days later, when Anthony Martial was forced out of a European game with Midtjylland, Keane wasn’t there to replace him.
Instead Rashford got the nod, scored twice and Keane left for Hull City that summer. That was a Hull squad in the Premier League and featuring Harry Maguire, Andy Robertson and Jarrod Bowen, but another ACL injury cost Keane his chance to impress.
He dropped down to Ipswich in the Championship and stayed with them as they slid to League One, where he remains – for now – with Wigan.
Keane broke through at United too late to play with Cristiano Ronaldo and had long left by the time he returned to the club, but he will be content if he shares a Dublin pitch with him on Thursday night.
As an image it’s certainly an alternate future, but one which nonetheless helps brings life to the past.
