As a kid growing up in the back streets of Dublin I used to pretend I was playing in the World Cup with my mates out on the streets, and now I will be doing it for real.

He is a cousin of Morrissey. He started his football career with South Dublin schoolboy team Crumlin United F. Keane has scored 54 goals for the Republic of Ireland from 25 March 1998 to 7 September 2012 making him the all-time record Irish goalscorer having become the first male Irish player to score 50 international goals in June 2011.

Keane was Ireland's top scorer at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan with three goals plus a converted penalty in the shoot-out with Spain. He is the 26th highest international scorer in the history of International football and the third highest International scorer among active players. S.