Rockshore put Roy Keane in a packed Cork pub because the match was sold out (interview)

Capture local humour with a star more associated with fierce tackles than gentle comedy, while balancing a premium beer brand, a national football league, and Keane's own authenticity — directed by Declan Lowney, the Father Ted and Ted Lasso veteran.

Roy Keane returns to Cork for a League of Ireland match — sold out — and ends up squeezed into a pub, straining to see a screen over fans' heads like any other supporter.

In an LBB interview, Tanja Adams, co-founder of production partner Another, describes 'cultural production intelligence': understanding not just what needs filming but how it needs to feel. Declan Lowney directed psychologically rather than technically, creating an environment where Ireland's most famously intense footballer could access a gentler, more relatable side, with Cork itself treated as a character — a city with its own rhythm, humour and relationship with football success and disappointment.

In the interview, the campaign is credited with putting the League of Ireland under the spotlight and positioning Rockshore as supporters who stand by the spirit of the game as the league's official beer; no campaign metrics were disclosed.

In an LBB interview, Tanja Adams, co-founder of production company Another — a Diageo production partner — walks through Rockshore's League of Ireland campaign starring Roy Keane. The brief was singular: make one of football's most famously intense personalities genuinely funny, with deeply personal, local material, while balancing the expectations of a premium beer brand and a national league.

The film's premise is beautifully ordinary: Roy Keane returns to his home city of Cork to watch a League of Ireland match, only to find it sold out. He ends up squeezed into a pub, straining to see the screen over a crowd of passionate fans — the famous son of Cork reduced to the same fate as every other devoted supporter. Adams credits director Declan Lowney, whose Father Ted and Ted Lasso work showed he could find humour, warmth and humanity in sports storytelling, with extracting a natural performance from a non-actor.

Adams describes the production philosophy as 'cultural production intelligence' — psychological direction rather than technical choreography, with location as character: Cork has its own rhythm, its own sense of humour, and its own relationship with football success and disappointment. Working alongside creative agency The Tenth Man and production company Rubberduck, the team aimed for every frame to capture the quintessential Cork character while meeting Diageo's brand standards.

Casting against persona is the joke: Keane's legendary intensity is never mocked, just placed where it deflates — a pub where nobody makes room.

The premise flatters the League of Ireland rather than the celebrity: the big star cannot even get a ticket, which is the league's popularity story.

The interview shows how much of celebrity casting is production craft — psychological direction, location casting, and protecting the star's authenticity.

A superstar becomes relatable by giving him the crowd's problems: the sold-out match levels Roy Keane with every fan watching on a pub screen.

The source records the campaign and the production account of it; no later results are mentioned.