Entering the Stadium of Light last Monday afternoon, Keane faced many tasks. The biggest of them will be trying to become the most popular Corkman in Sunderland. Never mind promotion, it may require Champions' League qualification for him to even equal Charlie Hurley in the locals' esteem. When Hurley left for Bolton Wanderers in 1969, adoring fans threw an "Abdication party" for him and 30 years later voted him their player of the century. As the hurlers try to emulate their three-in-a-row predecessors from the '70s this afternoon, they know well it is the curse of every Corkonian to be competing with so much history.

No other county in Ireland has so fecund a tradition across quite so many games and pastimes. From the oldest yacht club on the planet, the Royal Cork in Crosshaven, to the site of the world's first-ever steeplechase . . . a four and a half mile jaunt between Buttevant church and St Mary's in Doneraile . . . Cork has a host of exclusive claims.

Nowhere else has sent out men to manage the Boston Red Sox (Patsy Donovan from Cobh), and Manchester United (Frank O'Farrell from Turners' Cross), and to serve as president of the Nigerian FA (Father Denis Slattery from Fermoy). The late Paul O'Donovan, formerly of Cork Celtic, is definitely the only manager in sport to have signed both Jimmy Barry-Murphy and George Best for his club.

"People ask me where I'm from when I'm in England and I always say Cork first, then Ireland, " said Keane in an interview back in 1997. "I'm very proud of where I come from, proud to be from Mayfield and from Cork."

Why wouldn't he be? As the most decorated Irishman in English football history after another Cork man Denis Irwin, Keane joins a very crowded local pantheon. Notwithstanding occasional blasphemy about DJ, Ring is the greatest hurler of all time, Sonia and Dr Pat O'Callaghan are the most successful female and male Irish Olympians (not counting tainted performances), and having been voted number one personality in the history of British and Irish racing, Vincent O'Brien can make a decent case for being more dominant in his own field than any of the above.

O'Brien hails from a part of North Cork where a 15-mile radius encompassing Castletownroche and Churchtown produced himself, Jonjo O'Neill, Norman Williamson, and Captain Becher. Becher rode in the 1839 Grand National and failed so spectacularly at one fence they named it Becher's Brook in his honour.

Perhaps the most pleasing aspect of the sporting heritage of Cork is the presence of paupers and princes, priests and sinners, Anglo-Irish gentlemen and IRB gun-runners. If Archbishop Croke, a handball-crazy kid in Ballyclough long before they named a stadium after him, is the most celebrated cleric, Jack Doyle takes the prize as most revered sinner. The Cobh lothario remains the only Cork sportsman cherished more for his failings than his successes.

Frederick 'Rattle Barrett' grew up on the property that houses the Silver Springs Hotel, the location of the gym the Cork hurlers battled hard for access to during their strike. He fought in World War I and won a gold medal in polo at the 1920 Olympics. One of polo's most prestigious trophies is named after him still. Sam Maguire left Dunmanway for London a little bit earlier, represented his adopted home in a couple of All Ireland football finals, and for many years, ferried information and guns from there back to the IRB in Dublin. There is a trophy named after him too.

That Keane lent his motivational expertise to John Allen's team earlier this summer is appropriate because ecumenism is a recurring theme in this story. Gifted sportsmen move easily between seemingly unrelated codes. Sunday's Well's Ernie Keeffe remains the only Irish man to win senior caps in rugby and boxing, Dr Pat O'Callaghan played rugby for Kanturk, won two Olympic hammer golds, and enjoyed huge success later in life as a Gaelic football selector with Clonmel Commercials. And then there's Jim Young. Having annexed five All Ireland hurling winners' medals in the '40s, Young became Munster squash champion before serving as non-playing captain of the first Irish Davis Cup tennis team in 1967.

There are certain things, natives contend, could only happen in Cork. Following his scintillating 18 minute hat-trick in the 1972 FAI Cup final, Miah Dennehy left Cork Hibs for Nottingham Forest. The next season Hibs filled the vacancy with Dinny Allen. Where else would a soccer club replace the darling of the terraces with an individual of equal talent who'd later play in a Munster senior hurling final for Cork, and 16 years after his debut for Hibs, lift Sam Maguire at the conclusion of an All-Ireland football victory over Mayo?

Quite a yarn. Or just a typical Cork story. Depending on where you are from.