{"id":147663,"date":"2025-11-19T05:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T05:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/147663\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T05:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T05:08:08","slug":"roy-keane-spurs-busiest-season-yet-for-century-old-sweet-shop-in-cork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/147663\/","title":{"rendered":"Roy Keane spurs busiest season yet for century-old sweet shop in Cork"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Roy Keane called into Shandon Sweets last month, Tony Linehan had no idea that his old friend was about to make the 100-year-old sweet shop world famous.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoy has been coming in here for more than 40 years, whether people know it or not,\u201d Tony told The Echo.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a Rockmount boy, they used to meet to up here at the top of the street when he used to play for Rockmount, and he just pops his head in every now and then for a few sweets when he\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when he was in a few weeks ago, little did I expect that he would dish them out to the crew on The Overlap and do a product placement from me as well. I couldn\u2019t have asked for that sort of advertising, I couldn\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That was exactly what the football legend did on the set of The Overlap\u2019s Stick to Football podcast, offering the cast and crew \u201cSweets from Cork, Shandon Sweets, the best, the best you\u2019ll get\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"ShandonShandon Sweets proprietor Tony Linehan with regular visitor Roy Keane.<\/p>\n

In a clip released on the podcast\u2019s social media accounts, he tells his co-host, Jill Scott, the boiled sweets are from \u201ca famous shop in Cork, it\u2019s a proper, old-fashioned sweet shop, aw it\u2019s class\u201d.<\/p>\n

Few in Cork would disagree with Roy’s description, and the shop, which is also Ireland\u2019s last remaining factory producing hand-made sweets, is approaching its hundredth birthday.<\/p>\n

Founded in the 1920s by Tony\u2019s grandfather Jimmy, it began life as the Exchange Toffee Works, and a century later, it is still going strong in its John Redmond St premises which once served as stables for horses serving the nearby Butter Market.<\/p>\n

Jimmy\u2019s son Danny began working there in his childhood, eventually taking over, before Tony inherited the job years later.<\/p>\n

Pride of place inside the door is a photo of a younger Roy with Tony\u2019s late mam, Betty, and his dad Danny.<\/p>\n

Nearby is a sign explaining the shop\u2019s history. It tells in loving detail the traditional process of sweet-making, describing the making of a batch of clove rocks, a process which remains unchanged today.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe huge copper pans,\u201d it reads, \u201cThe moulding machines, even the recipe, are the same since Dan\u2019s father founded the factory. Today, the methods used in the manufacture of sweets (are) the same as back in the 1920s.<\/p>\n

\"RoyRoy Keane giving Shandon sweets to colleagues. Photo: Tiktok\/wearetheoverlap<\/p>\n

\u201cThe secret mixture is boiled to a high temperature for three quarters of an hour. Then this hot, viscous liquid is poured onto a large metal table. Now the colours and flavours are added. From here begins the Shaping Process. As the mixture solidifies in about fifteen minutes, they have to be very fast and sure in their movements. The mixture is pulled and rolled into strips of about four feet (which) are then fed into a chopping machine.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since Roy gave his favourite sweet shop a boost, business has been booming.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally, November is quiet enough, we\u2019d be just tipping away nicely, until the first week of December, and then three weeks of madness, but it\u2019s the opposite now, the phone is off the hook non-stop and the online orders are through the roof,\u201d Tony said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll tell ya one thing, Roy will be getting the next batch of sweets on the house!\u201d<\/p>\n