Barry Keoghan's amazing family link to United (2024)

by

Joe Ganley

The 31-year-old has come a long way since his early years in Dublin, when he was an aspiring football and boxer, not to mention a keen Manchester United fan.

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The man in question is Frank Stapleton– a two-time FA Cup winner with the Reds, who scored 78 goals in 288 games for us between 1981 and 1987.

Stapleton, who was also the Republic of Ireland's record goalscorer for many years, is Barry's second cousin, and both hail from the Irish capital, Dublin.

During filming we got the chance to chat to the pair, and Barry wasted little time in expressing the way Frank's success as a footballer had inspired his love of the Reds.

"My uncles and that followed United," Keoghan said, "and Frank playing for United, it was a sort of a given [that I'd be a Red].

"I used to joke. I used to call Frank my uncle. He’s my second cousin. But I used to say: ‘My uncle played for Manchester United’.

"United was a big, big presence," he continued. "A lot of the Irish went over [to England] – Liam Brady, Frank, there was a lot of them. So you kind of picked one or the other, and my household was United.

"I just remember having United jerseys growing up and getting the David Beckham haircut, the mohawk. I remember getting that, and them doing it wrong in the hairdressers. They done it kind of slanty, so I kinda had to live with that! But it was a big influence."

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Stapleton's story not only endeared his family to United, but also inspired the young Barry to believe that he could achieve something special, in whatever field he deployed his own talents.

"Did Frank's success have an aspirational effect? Massively. And I’m not saying that just because he’s here," says Keoghan.

"No one puts any pressure on you to become famous, or whatever you want to call it – and I hate that word. I was just following what I loved to do. Success came through that. But Frank, being a legend, really did inspire me. It pushed me."

In our interview, which you can watch in full above, Barry also talks about meeting his United heroes. One of those is the aforementioned Beckham, who Keoghan met at the BAFTA awards, no less.

"I was starstruck, I’m not even messing," he laughs. "I wrote a letter to Beckham back in October, just saying how much the documentary inspired me. I just wanted to reach out to him, but I never sent it to him. So when I met him, I showed him a picture of it. So it was a moment.

"I think he’s seen Saltburn. And then he wanted to get a picture with me. I was like ‘wow’."

Watch the interview in full to find out more about Barry and Frank's relationship and their thoughts on Roy Keane, football's growth in the USA and the magic of United.

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