Even if it's acting, it still takes an awful lot of nerve to insult Roy Keane. Here is the inside track on how the Irish midfielder was like during that famous scene in The Young Offenders.
Mick McCarthy, Alex Ferguson, Patrick Viera, Alf-Inge Haaland, Alan Shearer, Jason McAteer, Harry Arter, David Elleray, and countless other players have all felt the wrath of a Roy Keane tongue-lashing.
What's even rarer though is somebody dishing out the insults to the former Manchester United and Ireland legend.
However, that's exactly what happened during Season 2 of The Young Offenders, when Cork's most famous footballer was introduced to Leeside's most infamous langers.
As you can see in the clip below, after a harebrained idea to make some quick money by investing in a chipper van goes awry, Conor (Alex Murphy), Jock (Chris Walley), and Mairead (Hilary Rose) decide to stop off at Turners Cross.
Following a day of hard graft and lunacy, the gang are about to leave the home of Cork City FC when they get an unexpected customer.
During a recent interview with OTB ahead of the release of The Young Offenders Season 3, we had to ask the cast what it was like to film that scene with Keane.
"In the script originally, it was just one of us who said it and we were all arguing on set over who gets to say it! We would say to each other, 'No, I want to tell him to fuck off!' - so, we all did a collective 'fuck off! instead,'" jokes Alex Murphy (Conor).
As fans of the show will know, if cursing was an Olympic sport, Mairead MacSweeney (played brilliantly by Hilary Rose) would win a gold medal for Ireland. Well, the original plan was to have a one-v-one between the two fiery personalities.
"I think in the script it was originally me, actually. Peter (creator and writer) came into the room, rubbing his hands and said 'I've got this beauty of a line for you' and I was like 'Oh, yes! Nice one.' Then I learn we all got to do it and I was like 'fine!', said an understanding Rose.
As for the scene itself, Murphy jokingly says that "we all took turns telling him, and he wasn't too happy about it!"
Chris Walley (Jock) has a slightly different memory of what it was like to work with Keane. In fact, he said the legendary midfielder definitely has some acting chops because he looked absolutely "terrifying" after the insult was hurled at him.
"My favourite bit was when we'd go for a few improv takes and we'd all be saying 'fuck off!' to him. Then, Alex just started shouting the most horrific things at him in an improv take. We were just laughing about it, then he came back to the window and goes to Alex 'I heard what you said,' and he looks terrifying!', joked Walley.
Despite the fact that Keane was told to f**k off and didn't get his fish supper, The Young Offenders cast absolutely loved working with the Manchester United hero and consider him to be a part of the gang.
"Everyone thinks that Roy Keane is terrifying, but I think he's a puppy dog. I think he's amazing," said Rose.
Despite testing his temper and patience, Murphy recounts a story about just how kind the Irish legend was with his time while filming.
"Lovely guy, though. Lovely guy. He's great. My dad and my brother were on set that day because they're huge Manchester United fans and he was chatting away to them all day. He's great," said Murphy.
Season 3 of The Young Offenders starts on RTÉ1 at 9.35 pm on July 24th.
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