I didn't take anything gnu wrote as intended to be anti-Irish, but that wasn't the point.

It all depends how you define thuggery. "A taste of their own medicine" would fall within my definition. It might sometimes be possible to excuse it as a weakness, but never to applaud it as a strength, let alone to present it as a national characteristic.

Being complimented for a fault can be worse than an insult. Doubly so when you don't actually have that fault - and I would think that Roy Keane is about as characteristically Irish in this as he was in his petulent treachery when he let Ireland down so badly by deserting his teammates.