Saipan review: Éanna Hardwicke is utterly magnetic as Roy Keane in dramatisation of infamous feud

The best-known true-story feature films about “the beautiful game” have put the lives of iconic football managers like Brian Clough (The Damned United) or brilliant players such as George Best (Best) at the heart of the drama.

A manager (Mick McCarthy) and a player (Roy Keane) are also at the centre of events in Saipan, however, it’s a notorious falling-out between the men in the lead-up to the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea around which events unfold in this enthralling fictionalisation from husband-and-wife directors Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn (Ordinary Love, Good Vibrations).

Sporting spats are ten-a-penny these days, going viral almost immediately. But when Republic of Ireland captain Roy Keane walked out of his team’s training camp on the island of Saipan on the eve of departure for the tournament, it created huge press headlines, knocking the status of English talisman David Beckham’s broken foot off both the front and back pages of tabloids and broadsheets.

Meanwhile, the fallout in Ireland was seismic and polarising, not least because Keane was a bone fide world-class footballer — honed into a muscular midfield general by both Clough and his Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson — who was going to lead the team to glory.

We return to those heady days when the Irish team, minus a then-injured Keane, managed to qualify for only their third World Cup at the end of 2001. And yet, it’s quickly apparent there’s tension between a permanently bristling Keane (played with sustained intensity by Éanna Hardwicke) and a seemingly unflappable McCarthy (the ever-versatile Steve Coogan), as the countdown to the competition ticks away.

Although niftily paced over 90 minutes, there’s a fabulous, slow-burning quality to proceedings as the affable, Barnsley-born McCarthy strives to mediate between his star player’s uncompromising professional approach to diet, drinking and training and the rest of the team behaving as though they are on a tourist jolly.

But as the effects of the hot, humid location and faulty air conditioning combine with a catalogue of organisational cock-ups — rock-strewn pitches, a lack of footballs or sun cream — you just know it’s going to end in tears, despite the two protagonists endeavouring to put aside their differences for the common good.

The climactic team meeting, when old grievances, misunderstandings and even the definition of being Irish explode to the surface, may be cathartic but there’s a palpable sadness, too, with Paul Fraser’s perceptive script leaving you feeling sympathy for both McCarthy and Keane, especially since the latter never played in another World Cup.

Hardwicke (a BAFTA winner for BBC TV drama The Sixth Commandment) is utterly magnetic, capturing the brooding aura of the Irish captain, while also revealing the human being beneath the fearsome reputation.

An understated but effective Coogan is equally impressive and is surely now rivalling Michael Sheen for acclaimed film and TV portraits of the famous (Stan Laurel, Brian Walden) and the infamous (Saville). Meanwhile, Alice Lowe and Harriet Cains as the footballers’ wives are a joy, adding some welcome levity when their husbands start taking themselves too seriously.

Of course, if you are not steeped in football lore or are no particular fan of the game, you might consider Saipan a film for sports enthusiasts only. However, thanks to fabulous performances and a witty, perceptive script that’s more concerned with the game of life than the game itself, it has something for everybody.

Saipan is released in UK cinemas on Friday 23rd January.

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