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Football

25th Aug 2018

Former Man United keeper Roy Carroll divides opinion over handshake snub of Cliftonville players

Patrick McCarry

Roy Carroll has definitely caused a stir

Former Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll was having no part in the pre-match handshakes between his Linfield side and the Cliftonville players.

Both teams faced off at Solitude on Saturday afternoon and the Irish League derby ended in a 1-1 draw.

The result was not the main talking point, however, was Carroll opted to walk past the entire Cliftonville team and bypass the handshakes.

The rest of his teammates shook hands, but Carroll strode by. This caused some consternation within the Cliftonville squad and elicited a noisy reaction from the crowd.

Joe Gormley opened the scoring for Cliftonville but Michael O’Connor grabbed an equaliser with just five minutes to play.

It has been speculated that Carroll did so in response to Cliftonville’s decision to bow their heads during a rendition of God Save The Queen prior to the Irish Cup Final in May.

The decision of Carroll to ignore the pre-match tradition stoked a strong response. We have opted not to show some of the worst of them but this is just a taste:

FOR

AGAINST

It will be interesting to hear the Northern Ireland international’s reasoning for the stance.