Saipan: Epic bust-up brings it all back home in cinemas

Updated / Saturday, 27 Dec 2025 11:33 Steve Coogan as Mick McCarthy and Éanna Hardwicke as Roy Keane in Saipan Evelyn O\u0027Rourke By Evelyn O'Rourke Arts and Media Correspondent Saipan hits Irish cinema screens this week, and it revisits one of the biggest controversies in Irish sporting history. The film returns to the site of the battle between Ireland captain Roy Keane and manager Mick McCarthy ahead of the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan. Directed by the duo of Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn (the co-directors of Ordinary Love and Good Vibrations ), Saipan stars Steve Coogan as Mick McCarthy and rising star Éanna Hardwicke as a steely-eyed Roy Keane. The movie delves into the heady atmosphere across the nation as Irish fans were gripped by World Cup fever. However, from the opening scenes, it is clear that the tensions between the captain and the manager were going to erupt at some point. "You can look at it and think this was avoidable and how it could have been different," actor Coogan told RTÉ News. Coogan went on to explain that it is the blood, sweat, and fiery exchanges of the McCarthy-Keane relationship that are at the heart of Saipan , and that the film sets out to unravel a sporting story that still causes heated debates more than two decades later. Steve Coogan as a pensive Mick McCarthy in Saipan - 'You can look at it and think this was avoidable and how it could have been different' Ultimately, it was the breakdown in this vital relationship that led to Keane's departure from the Irish camp on the eve of the World Cup, causing huge controversy back at home and abroad. As the media worked itself into a frenzy, the fans were torn between their support for either Keane or McCarthy. Written by Paul Fraser, Saipan is not a documentary, but a dramatic re-imagining of the events of that long, hot summer. With the film, the cast was keen to show that while there are moments of pure comedy in the story, this epic battle was about two very sincere men with different views on this massive opportunity for the country. Éanna Hardwicke said he wanted to play Keane because "he was one of the most influential footballers of his generation". The Cork actor explained that in 2002, it was Keane's last chance to play in a World Cup, "and he clearly has history with the manager, from their pasts when McCarthy was a player, so that is part of Roy's perspective, and that was really interesting to get into". Coogan sees McCarthy as a man whose attitude to the whole tournament is totally different to Keane's. He said that McCarthy's attitude "was to be grateful that we were here taking part", and McCarthy thought "that it was a celebration" for Ireland to be there. Coogan added that his character was a man who had a much more "pragmatic, sort of holistic attitude that conflicts with...

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