Since its inception four years ago, 'I, Keano' has easily become one of the more successful Irish productions of recent times.

Combining comedy, musicals, football, and ancient mythology is not the easiesr; yet it is something that has been managed by this show.

Gary Cooke as Dunphia, Caroline Morahan as Surfia, Vincent Moran as Quinness and Dessie Gallagher as Macartacus in I, Keano at UCH from Tuesday January 29 to Saturday February 2.

And now the creators are drawing the final curtain on the show… or so they say, according to one of its stars, Dessie Gallagher.

"You know the way it is; we've been told it is the end. They probably will put it to bed now, but maybe in the future, it'll happen again."

Gallagher, who plays the Mick McCarthy-based character of Macartacus, is one of the few mainstays of the production, and will notice a traditional part of his year change after this run.

"Myself and Gary Cooke have done all the performances. It is a very strange feeling; it has almost become a part of Christmas, in that straight after Christmas every year, we have been straight into rehearsals," says the Donegal actor.

While he has lived with the role over a number of runs, Dessie acknowledges that it has not always remained the same. "The first three or four times, there were a lot of rewrites. This is the first run where it hasn't changed too much. Cast-wise, it has changed a little, and of course the dynamic changes too, but it does freshen it up. Not just saying it for the sake of it, but this cast is very strong. The three new cast members settled very quickly, as we only had a week of rehearsals."

Joining Gallagher will be the aforementioned Cooke as Dunphia (an extension of his Apres Match take on Eamonn Dunphy), Jamie Beamish as Keano, Vincent Moran as Quinness, Nicholas Grennell as Sanctimonious, Karl Harpur as Superfluous, Ciaran Bermingham as Ridiculus and Malachy McKenna as Obsequius, and television presenter Caroline Morahan as Surfia.

Gallagher recalls the early days when Lane Productions approached him. "Initially, we did a workshopped this thing; and there was myself, Risteard Cooper, Barry Murphy and a couple of others. From a performers point of view, I thought the whole thing was a terrific idea, and had a lot of potential. It really had a Monty Python feel about it.

"The very first night there was an awful amount of hype about it; it seemed everybody was going to it, but nobody had any idea whether it was going to be any good or not. I can still remember that we were absolutely terrified before that first show, but very, very satisfied after ." While Dessie admits that the inevitable jitters still remain, there is a strong confidence in the show. "It would take a major change in the plot or something to really worry you," he says.

While Roy Keane's World Cup exit is essentially an Irish story, 'I, Keano', has travelled outside of Ireland a few times, most notably to a city synonymous with the Corkman, Manchester.

"There is always the question with any Irish show about whether it will travel outside the country or not," points out Dessie. "The jokes, the humour, and the psyché of it can be very different for a foreign audience."