EXCLUSIVE: Roy Keane shaves his beard in aid of a very special cause

Just in case further proof were needed - Keano is a legend.

The Ireland assistant manager, you have probably noticed, has been sporting one of his more spectacular beards in recent times. Prone to frequent and sudden changes of chin furniture, nobody expected the Cork legend's current Santa Claus-inspired number to last long, but the former Manchester United midfield has made his latest shearing worth its while. Keane made a secret trip to his native county following the Slovakia game to attend a very special fund-raising event in Togher. The Cork City suburb are running a campaign to erect a statue of their most famous son, Denis Irwin, outside the local Centra, to commemorate Keane's former club and international team-mate's stellar career. Chairman of the Association Promoting Real Irwin Love (APRIL), Aoineas Darwin, told SportsJOE that Keane was only to happy to help with the fundraising.

"Roy has very fond memories of Denis at Old Trafford. Dour, taciturn and not terribly sociable - he was great company for Roy - who despised the majority of his team-mates," said Darwin. "His happiest times at United were spent bitching about their team-mates on the bus, so much so that they had to convince Andrei Kanchelskis that "langer" was Irish for footballer."

The exact total raised by Keane's charity shave is not yet known, but APRIL are hoping to get started on the statue before the next Jose Mourinho to United story appears in a Portuguese newspaper.