Roy Keane will miss the Republic of Ireland's end of season programme, including the three-game American tour, starting on June 4th, because of a damaged hamstring.

The eventuality which Mick McCarthy may secretly have feared, materialised shortly before the squad announcement yesterday when Manchester United informed him that the player was unfit to travel.

The injury, sustained in the game against Chelsea on April 24th, kept him out of the club's last three games in the Premiership, at a stage when they had already made certain of the title.

"Roy told me that he hasn't trained since getting the injury and is unfit," he said. "I am sorry to have lost him for he had said that he would be travelling with us to America."

As late as last Friday, McCarthy still believed that he would be able to call on the experience of his inspirational captain. To that extent, he will be disappointed but when Keane's name didn't appear on the teamsheet for United's last game against Aston Villa on Sunday, the signs were ominous.

Coincidentally, the midfielder also missed the last American tour in 1996 when, after being appointed team captain for the first time, he failed to put in an appearance. Now in the absence of both Keane and Steve Staunton, the captaincy is likely to be offered to either Niall Quinn or Kenny Cunningham.

To accentuate a difficult situation, McCarthy has also lost the services of Gary Kelly whose last-minute withdrawal, was considerably more surprising.

Kelly, revitalised in a remarkable season at Leeds United after being out of football for a year through injury, had been looking forward to the challenge of confirming his claims to the vacancy at full back following Denis Irwin's departure.

He played the full 90 minutes when Leeds booked their place in next season's Champions League at West Ham on Sunday but afterwards required treatment for a sore hamstring.

Coupled with the earlier defection of his nephew and clubmate, Ian Harte and the loss of Staunton and Alan Maybury, it exacerbates the manager's problems in providing adequate cover at full back.

Rory Delap and Steve Finnan, the two utility players in the squad, are both capable of filling in but the indications are that another full back, possibly Curtis Fleming, will be added to the squad later in the week.

On the credit side, Kenny Cunningham and Niall Quinn are both sufficiently recovered from recent injuries to join the squad and in the case of Quinn, in particular, that is wholly reassuring for the manager.

With Keith O'Neill and David Connolly both unavailable, Robbie Keane is the only other specialist striker in the squad.

From a situation in which they might, conceivably, have had four players in the touring party, Leeds' representation is now down to just one. Yet, the appearance of the uncapped Stephen McPhail promises to provide one of the focal points of a programme which, in addition to the three American games, includes next Sunday's fixture against Liverpool at Lansdowne Road and that attractive May 30th meeting with Scotland at Lansdowne Road.

McPhail, on trial for a place in the World Cup squad, is seen by McCarthy as a possible contender in central midfield instead of the left wing where Mark Kennedy, Kevin Kilbane and Damien Duff represent something of a surfeit of riches.

Although Jason McAteer of Blackburn is now fully fit again, the likelihood is that Kennedy will again be deployed on the right flank leaving McPhail to compete with Matt Holland for the responsibility of complementing Mark Kinsella in the pivotal positions.

Graham Kavanagh who marked his international debut with that spectacular goal against Sweden, is also selected but in this instance, his primary task will be to provide cover.

Apart from Cunningham, there are four centre backs in the squad, Gary Breen, Richard Dunne, Phil Babb and Paul Butler and for Babb, it may well be a last chance of retrieving a career which has deviated sharply off course in the last year.

Ireland squad

Goalkeepers - A Kelly (Blackburn), S Given (Newcastle), D Kiely (Charlton).

Defenders - S Carr (Tottenham), K Cunningham (Wimbledon), G Breen (Coventry), R Dunne (Everton), P Butler (Sunderland), P Babb (Liverpool).

Midfielders - M Holland (Ipswich), M Kennedy (Man City), M Kinsella (Charlton), J McAteer (Blackburn), K Kilbane (Sunderland), D Duff (Blackburn), S Finnan (Fulham), G Kavanagh (Stoke), S McPhail (Leeds).

Forwards - N Quinn (Sunderland), R Keane (Coventry), R Delap (Derby)