Legend has it that Alex Ferguson vowed that he would one day sign Roy Keane after witnessing the then 19-year-old flatten Bryan Robson with a "meaty" tackle in the opening minutes of his Old Trafford debut for Nottingham Forest in the 1990-91 season - his thinking being that any kid who had the temerity to give the United God a taste of his own medicine, in front of his own crowd, would do for him.
Maybe Barry Quinn was familiar with the story. The 19-year-old Dubliner, who captained the Irish under-18 team to victory in the European championships in Cyprus during the summer, made his first team debut for Coventry City at Old Trafford on Saturday and, in the first five minutes, introduced himself to Keane with a tackle so "robust" (and one that won him the ball) that Ferguson cannot have been but impressed.
Quinn, now the Republic of Ireland under-21 captain, made an impressive debut, in a 2-0 defeat, and was rated as second only to fellow midfielder George Boateng as Coventry's most effective player. Quinn's fellow under-21 international, Barry Conlon, who scored before being sent off against Croatia earlier this month, marked only his second appearance for third division Southend United with a goal (in a 2-0 away win over Brighton), having joined the club from Manchester City for £90,000 last week. Another Irish striker, Robbie Keane, scored his sixth goal in just nine appearance for Wolves this season, in a 1-1 home draw against Sunderland.
In the Premiership, Gareth Farrelly made his first appearance of the season, coming on as a 78th minute substitute for Everton in their 0-0 draw against Leeds, while in Scotland Alan Kernaghan played his second game in a week for St Johnstone in a 1-1 draw with Dunfermline, after missing the start of the season through injury. Kernaghan, incidentally, is known, fondly, as "Fr Dougal" by St Johnstone fans. Meanwhile, Dean Kiely, third-choice Irish goalkeeper behind Shay Given and Alan Kelly, saved a last minute penalty against Norwich yesterday, to give Bury a share of the points at Carrow Road and move them up to fourth in Division One.
