Former Ireland and Manchester United captain Roy Keane has urged the public to support the Liam Miller Tribute match next month at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
Keane has been pivotal in recruiting some of Miller's former United teammates for the game against a Republic of Ireland and Celtic legends side and speaking on Monday's OTBAM, he said: "All the players that I got in touch with at United were very quick to get back to me and were very happy to commit to the game.
"They have a lot of respect for Liam and they were delighted to get involved in, I suppose, they want to respect him and obviously celebrate his career and life. So, [I'm] delighted with the response and the group of players and I'm looking forward to meeting up with all of them.
"The sadness will always be there when someone dies so young. Obviously Liam was 36 but we want to pay our respects towards him and obviously we're trying to raise some funds for Liam's wife and children, and Marymount, and there'll be other charities, no doubt, that will get the benefits of this occasion but yeah, there will obviously be sadness but it's also important that Liam's family get a chance to celebrate his career and with the players on-show and hopefully a big crowd - that will help them a small bit anyway in terms of their recovery.
"So yeah, there will be sadness there but we need to celebrate Liam's career and what he achieved in the game," he added.
Professional footballers are often portrayed as money-grabbing narcissists but Keane was quick to highlight the bond Miller's former teammates have for him - "I think we're all obsessed with contracts and the money involved in the game and it's kind of dog-eat-dog and we all understand that and you get that when you're a player but Liam is still a teammate of ours.
"When players move on from clubs - you try and keep in touch and it's difficult but then when someone dies so suddenly - you realise how important teammates were.
"So the reaction I got from the United lads tells you all about what the game's about and you've got to try and help each other and if you can't go out of your way to help an ex-teammate then I don't see the point of being on this planet.
"You've got to help somebody out and I know there was a lot of controversy because of the Páirc (Uí Chaoimh) but we got there eventually - we had to go around the houses but I think it's great - more so that more people come and watch the game and it's a great sporting occasion for everybody - not just in Cork but for Ireland now that there's a chance to come and watch them.
"Obviously there's brilliant past players - they're certainly not in their prime anymore and also to celebrate - the fact that it's on in the Páirc is a real bonus just so we can get 40-odd thousand in there.
"It was great at the start when it was down at Turner's Cross but there was a great reaction to the tickets as we just hope that will be the case down at the Páirc.
"And again, I know people were upset about it and were very emotional about it and people vented their frustrations about it with the GAA but we got there eventually and the GAA deserve credit for that and we just hope now that the people who were upset that they couldn't get tickets will now buy a ticket and turn up and, as I said, celebrate Liam's career."
Tickets are available from today and all the information for the match and related events can be found here.
