Niall Horan has posted an emotional tribute to Robbie Keane on social media, following the Dubliner’s announcement of retirement yesterday.
The former One Direction singer took to Instagram last night to tell his followers that Robbie Keane was his idol when he was a young boy, and that in more recent times he’s been lucky enough to call him a friend.
Alongside a pic of the 36-year-old on the field Niall wrote, “Let’s celebrate one of the greatest players to ever put an Irish jersey on as he announces his retirement from international football.
“When I was a kid my dad had a ten year ticket for Landsdowne road in the east stand. We went to every single home Irish game from as long as I can remember.
“Without fail every Irish jersey I owned had ‘Keane 10’ on the back and I would walk up to the ground on freezing cold Wednesday night in Dublin to watch the boys in green and excited by the idea of Robbie Keane scoring and adding to his tally of goals he has for Ireland.
“Robbie gave the Irish fans some of our greatest moments and brought so much joy to a small nation when he put that jersey on. The greatest thing about Robbie is that every time he put on the jersey you could literally see him bursting with pride and everyone fed off that.
“Over the last few years I’ve been lucky enough to call Robbie and Claudine my really good friends and I hide nothing. I tell Rob all the time that he’s my idol and was a big part of my childhood even down to when I would try and do my hair like his (state of him).
“Rob thanks for everything, we’ll miss ya banging goals in for the boys in green,” he said.
Well that was a tear jerker. You’ll be missed Robbie.
