Comedian reveals Celtic hero Neil Lennon allegedly had to stop Roy Keane from choking him out after abuse at Hoops debut

A COMEDIAN has claimed that Neil Lennon had to stop Roy Keane from choking him out after he abused the midfielder at his debut Celtic game.

Comedian Paddy McDonnell shared his story on Hot Water's Green Room podcast yesterday where he revealed the details of the altercation after Celtic’s infamous Scottish Cup defeat to Clyde.

The game marked Keane’s debut for the Hoops but it went horribly wrong when they were stunned by Clyde in a 2-1 defeat.

The Northern Irish comedian says he had launched abuse at Keane during the game, and had gone to meet Lennon post-match but claims he was confronted by Keane who did not take kindly to his words.

McDonnell explained: “When he [Keane] came to Celtic I knew Lenny, Neil Lennon, he was the club captain.

“Keane’s first match was against Clyde in the cup and we went to Clyde.

“It was this tiny, tiny stadium and it was freezing cold and Keane and all came out [to warm up] and I was going ‘ye f***ing Cork gypsy' and calling him everything.

“He could hear because it was a tiny pitch and he went over to Lennon and he was going ‘who the f**k is this c**t?’

“Lennon was like 'I know him, I know him'.

The jokester then told of how he had planned to meet Neil Lennon after the game to pick up a match-worn top from the Celtic legend.

He said: “Lennon had a match-worn top for me and he was like 'come and meet me outside the ground' and I jumped into the front of his car and when I got in an arm went round my neck.

“It was choking me and Lenny was going 'haha' and I f***ing started going purple.

“Lenny was like 'you need to let go of him now' and all I heard was the voice, it was like ‘who’s a f***ing Cork gypsy now you f***ing fat c**t'.

“Lenny's like 'let him go, he's choking!'. Then he let me go and I looked and there he [Keane] was. He just got out of the car and walked away.

"I was like 'holy f**k the night that was Keane like'.

"He [Lennon] says 'I thought he was going to f***ing kill you there!'"

“Lenny was like 'here’s the top for you' and I was like 'okay' with a wee tear running down.”

Keane’s Celtic career would recover from its shocking start as he would go on to secure a double, picking up a Scottish League Cup and a league winner’s medal for the 2005/06 season.

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