Steve Coogan and Éanna Hardwicke go in all studs blazing in Saipan

If I were Mick McCarthy I'd be packing in as much as I can between now and the release of Saipan because once it hits cinema screens he won't want to leave the house for an awfully long time.

There are two sides to every story but if you believe the version told in this eagerly-awaited biopic, Mick was the David Brent of international football management who gets the heebie jeebies whenever in close proximity to Roy Keane whose side the filmmakers have clearly taken.

Following on from his award-winning turn as Jimmy Saville, Steve Coogan doesn't so much play as inhabit the former Ireland gaffer with Éanna Hardwicke, a Cork boy himself, doing a similarly impressive job of portraying Keano as his rage over the team's World Cup 2002 preparations – or lack thereof – goes through the gears.

His performance is a nuanced one, which captures Roy’s vulnerabilities – yes, he has some – and the claustrophobic isolation he must have felt as he became increasingly estranged from the rest of the squad.

There are some great set pieces like Roy and Mick locking themselves in an airplane toilet, not to join the Mile High Club but to have a conversation away from the prying ears of the press corps who are on the same commercial flight.

The opening montage of archive TV and radio coverage is a reminder of just how gripped the country was by the drama unfolding 7,420 miles away in the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, which is the last place you'd want to bring a group of elite sportsmen. Well, unless you're going for that cheap third world package holiday vibe.

One could argue that Saipan’s tragicomic portrayal of Mick McCarthy is unduly harsh, but the film is spot on with its evisceration of the FAI hierarchy who were ultimately responsible for the shit show and demonstrate breathtaking contempt for both manager and star player.

The team meeting - or, as Roy calls it, kangaroo court - which sealed his World Cup fate is genuinely shocking in its intensity and ask serious questions of the other players.

Of course, you might hear Roy tearing Mick a new one and decide that he was bang out of order and deserved to be on the first flight home to Dublin. Rest assured, the country will be slipping back to 2002 levels of "who's to blame?" when Saipan is released on January 1 or possibly earlier in Ireland.

Saipan gets extra marks for its pulsating soundtrack, which takes historical liberties by including Fontaines D.C. but, hey, their mate David Holmes is on music duties.

Elsewhere, Oasis, Stone Roses and The Walker Brothers do a brilliant job of rock and rolling back the years.

And let us also acknowledge the canine acting talents of Misty the labrador who deserves a WOOFTA for their portryal of Keano’s dog Triggs who was the most-walked mutt in Ireland when Roy got home.