Mick McCarthy launches sweary rant about his 'Saipan' depiction claiming he walked out after 20 minutes

Mick McCarthy has labelled film Saipan “a heap of s***” and claims he watched it for less than half an hour before walking out of the cinema.

The movie depicts McCarthy's famous falling out with Ireland captain Roy Keane ahead of the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, which resulted in the skipper heading home and missing the tournament entirely.

Unhappy about facilities and the Irish FA’s choice of Saipan, a remote location in the Northern Mariana Islands, as a destination for a warm-up before the tournament, the Manchester United midfielder’s relationship with McCarthy eventually became untenable, resulting in an explosive team meeting in which Keane is famously said to have told McCarthy to stick the World Cup “up his b*llocks” before flying back home.

McCarthy claims the film makes him look like a 'northern numpty'

After attempting to watch the film, McCarthy was less than impressed by how it covered the events, how short he appears on screen and how his personality came across.

At an event in Dublin for the Irish Sun, for which McCarthy was joined by his Ireland squad members Niall Quinn and Stephen Hunt, he revealed that he barely made it more than quarter of an hour before heading for the exit.

Asked how long he lasted before walking out he said: “20 minutes,” before adding: “My family and I all went to look at it, and it's a heap of s*** to be fair. My concern is, he's about 5ft 8in, Steve Coogan, and in the film Roy towers above him, for f***'s sake.”

The argument between the two mainly stemmed from Keane’s belief that McCarthy and the Irish FA had chosen the location as a holiday destination, rather than a place to work hard and prepare for the tournament.

And McCarthy believes the film has depicted him similarly, claiming they made him out to be a “northern numpty” - something he wholeheartedly disputes.

He continued: “It depicts me as an easy-going, northern numpty who was there for a f*****g good time and not to win, and I wasn’t competitive.

“If anyone wants to come and f*****g tell me that, I’ll have a fight with him on the f*****g stage.”

McCarthy saved his most savage takedown for Keane himself, suggesting it's unlikely the pair will put the past behind them any time soon.

“I mean, I do these Q&As, the last one I did, I got asked about Keane,” McCarthy continued. “I said, ‘You know, he’s a fabulous player, great captain, captain of his club and everywhere he’s been and what he’s done is fantastic’.

“I said ‘great goalscorer’ — and everybody’s looking at me — and I said, ‘I’m talking about Robbie, not that other c***’. Excuse that language!”

McCarthy isn’t the only member of the squad who was unhappy about how they’d been depicted in the flick, with Niall Quinn claiming he had refused to watch it after hearing about how it made him look.

The former Manchester City and Sunderland striker said: “I haven’t seen it because I heard about it. There was no point in seeing it because I’d have gotten frustrated as well.

“A friend of mine saw it, and he said to me, ‘You’ll be pleased to know they play you as a complete drunk who offers nothing to anything’.”

Quinn did then concede that “They might have a bit of a point there.”

The 2002 tournament remains the most recent World Cup to have featured Ireland, whose hopes of reaching this summer’s competition in North America were dashed on Thursday evening by a penalty shootout defeat to Czechia.

They made it to the Round of 16 where they lost 3-2 on penalties to Spain, after Robbie Keane's dramatic late equaliser.

The 'Saipan' film was better received by people outside of the squad, receiving 12 nominations at the Irish Film & Television Awards, including for best film and best director, while both Coogan and Eanna Hardwicke were nominated for best lead actor.

Hardwicke eventually won that award for his depiction of Keane.