Yes, comparing sport and politics is often clumsy work.
Plus, its comedic value is never quite as sparkling as those in the political field believe.
Yet, when your mind is wired with memories of an assertive (yes, the term understates things) Roy Keane is his heyday, then such comparisons are unavoidable.
Therefore, that image of Roy Keane in 2005, standing up to Patrick Viera in the Highbury tunnel in defence of his teammate Gary Neville, seems strikingly pertinent.
That is exactly what happened last night when another Cork man, Tánaiste Micheál Martin, vowed to give Finance Minister Michael McGrath the space to prepare the Budget.
Three Fine Gael junior ministers, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Peter Burke and Martin Heydon are playing the Viera role and demanding big tax break in the Budget for workers.
It is viewed by Fianna Fáil as both "undermining" and "unhelpful" and an attempt by Fine Gael to get the message out first that tax breaks are on the way.
They are after all agreed in the Programme for Government.
Fianna Fáil fear too that this move is akin to the early days of the Coalition when the then Tánaiste Leo Varadkar would sometimes reveal news before the Taoiseach.
This view of history is of course disputed by Fine Gael who now believe that Michael McGrath is announcing things that should be left to their ministers.
While the Taoiseach did not pen the newspaper article at the centre of this controversy, it did have his imprimatur, and was largely based on things he has said in recent times.
What has caused such angst in the Coalition though is the precise nature of the Fine Gael demand, that is a €1,000 tax break for workers.
All this before even the general parameters of the Budget have been sketched out - they will be unveiled in the Summer Economic Statement in July.
There is anger too that one of the authors of the newspaper article, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, is a junior minister at the Department of Finance where the Budget will be delicately moulded.
Despite the strong words, the prevailing view is that when it comes to the Budget negotiations, the discussions at the upper echelons of Government could in the end be quite smooth.
But the days of almost perpetual harmony in Government look to have ended, as next year's local and European Parliament elections come into view.
The Programme for Government spoke about ending discord and division and instead offering shared solutions.
However, as this political week draws to a close, the sharing bit looks increasingly difficult for the parties born out of the Civil War.
