Robbie Keane and the long road to immortality

The 35-year-old is the highest active goalscorer on the international circuit

Nowadays, the sporting world is saturated with hyperbole. It’s become the norm in so many ways. Through hype, excitement, social media and, well...Martin Tyler, overkill has often reared its excited face. Sometimes, though, it all manages to makes perfect sense, and although not everyone is always truly happy with the verdict, there are occasions when it’s difficult to argue – even in football.

Making in-roads from one year to the next, there have often been special footballers who constantly find it in themselves to dig out their team, make things happen when it matters most and inspire their team-mates to follow suit. They’re a rare vintage of character, but they do exist.

What’s all the more appreciated are the players who produce patriotic bursts of perfection. Harnessing their talent, and an undying passionate energy for their country, these national icons continue to power against the tide of public expectation.

Every national team has their fan-fuelled flame that refuses to flicker out. For Republic of Ireland fans, it’s Robbie Keane who springs to mind.

Continuing to score goals for fun in the Ireland shirt, the 35-year-old might be over-the-hill in many peoples’ view but that’s not stopping him from breaking records and railing against the odds.

Time will embellish Keano’s achievements

Despite his amazing personal success, the current L.A Galaxy star remains an outsider in the world of football. For many, he’s a player who has lived off the scraps of the game’s minnows, a striker who has fed heartily from the weaknesses of so many understrength and inexperienced rearguards. A goal-poacher without the appetite to force his way into the conversation about the legacy of great centre-forwards.

Coming from a small island nation has fortified his appearance as an outsider, and yet his accomplishments ought to have eradicated that mindset long, long ago. He might not play for a global, or indeed European behemoth, but he has helped them rub shoulders with giants on so many occasions. To ignore him is to dilute the power of football, because the diminutive Irishman has shown, with consistency, just how confidently a dark horse can punch above their weight.

Truth be told, his critics are misguided. Depicting a poorly fleshed out version of the real deal, the discourse illustrating Keane outside his home nation has often struck a far closer resemblance to a caricature than a magnetic masterpiece. Regrettably, he has not, often enough, been on the receiving end of the compliments he fully deserves and it’s beguiling to say the least.

Why, only recently, the Irish legend was omitted from a list of top international goalscorers compiled by BBC Sport.

Wayne Rooney - he's no Ali Daei! He is pretty good though, and so are this lot. Watch http://t.co/S3tlZ0xbx4 pic.twitter.com/xRclwHaoMW

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) September 8, 2015

Overlooked even now while he can boast being the highest-scoring international player currently active one has to ask: Will he ever receive the widespread praise he deserves?

With as many as 67 goals, and counting, to his name in the emerald green shirt, he is far and away the most accomplished striker still playing for his country and with key Euro 2016 qualifiers to come against Poland and Germany, Ireland have a really deadly weapon to call upon as he closes in on Gerd Muller’s tally of 68 strikes. Because while he might not get the credit he deserves, his contributions will stand the test of time, head and shoulders above so many others who pale in comparison.

Will Ireland ever see the likes of him again?

Sometimes, romanticising the feats of our heroes is all we can do. For Irish fans, however, this is the go-to reaction whenever Keane pops up in conversation in a pub or around the breakfast table. The cartwheel-turning striker has captured the imagination of the Emerald Isle so many times, it’s fair to say he’s one of the country’s greatest athletes; someone who has become as successful as he is liked.

Infographic: Robbie Keane's International Goals Broken Down By Country http://t.co/sRreyuETWV pic.twitter.com/JrGKfF8Yg3

— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) September 9, 2015

When the time comes for the record-breaker to call it quits, there will be a gaping chasm in the Irish squad – one that has been filled with tremendous memories, outstanding feats of personal prowess and a proclivity for clinical finishing against some of the best teams around.

The backbiters will continue to rail against Keane as a minnow-killer, and a striker who reserved his consistency for the lightweights of world football. True, he did nab as many as 15 goals against the likes of Gibraltar, the Faroe Islands and Georgia, but he has never shied away from stepping up to the plate in the key games, either.

Scoring some truly memorable goals against the Netherlands, Spain and, of course, Germany in important competitive fixtures, it’s entirely unfair to reduce his achievements to that of a dispatcher of insignificant teams.

A captain, a leader and a dedicated champion of the unassuming underdog, it’s easy to imagine why Ireland might never see his like again.

For now, none of that will be on his mind and the fans won’t want to think on it either, you can be sure. The next few weeks offer the ageing artist a few more chances to build on his impressive career to date and if things go his way, we might just him grace the Euro 2016 stage where, amazingly, he’d have the chance to score in the European Championship proper – something he has yet to achieve.

Keane’s last tournament should be the Euro 2016 in France

Road to France could be his last hurrah

Losing a legend of the game is never a nice experience for anyone. Unfortunately, it might well take retirement for Keane to be as celebrated as he should.

Hailing from Tallaght in South Dublin, football has been the lifeblood of the ex-Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur marksman for as long as his supporters care to remember, but as is the case with every athlete, time, injury, fatigue and commitment can all play their part in ending a successful career. It doesn’t matter how many caps one has earned, how many goals have been scored or how robustly the desire to keep going burns – there is always a stopping point, always an endgame.

For Keane, that blockade might just be in sight, despite his ability to overcome the odds just like he did against the Germans all those years ago.

Currently, the Boys in Green have a pretty good chance of making it to the party scheduled to take place in L’Hexagone next summer, even though they have stuttered and chugged to this point, meaning their roadmap to Paris has changed tack quite a few times. Sitting third in Group D, they have a four-point lead over Scotland and could sneak into the automatic qualification spots.

With that, regardless of what happens between now and the end of 2016, Ireland’s greatest-ever goalscorer could be on his way out.

Missing out on any sort of joy at Euro 2012, their first appearance at a major finals since the World Cup in 2002, will certainly be used as fuel to kick-start their motor in the coming weeks, and captain Keane will be instrumental in navigating a competent course.

On a personal level, too, the record appearance holder will be eager to get himself back to that stage so he can go out on a high. He will be able to take pride no matter what way he exits the national set-up, but it would be unfair to suggest that he doesn’t deserve one last hurrah worthy of his exploits.