He's got more than a touch the surliness and has shown a similar inclination towards score settling with at least one of his former managers, but Darron Gibson has only sporadically delivered on his potential where Roy Keane truly excelled –

in central midfield.

The absence this week of James McCarthy should mean the Derryman furthers his chances against Gibraltar and Germany. He is at least fit for the task and, while he has found it hard to recover the momentum he had previously amassed at Everton, he is anxious to seize any opportunity for Ireland after a lost year on the sidelines.

Contrasting challenges

“It’s been hard, like,” he says. “Coming back and having to fight for my place has been hard. I knew I would have to fight for it. I didn’t realise that mentally it would be so tough but I’m gonna keep pushing, keep going until I’m starting.

“Being out for so long, it was going to take me a while to get back in the swing of things and get match fit, but the start of the season was just about getting minutes. Now I’m ready to go.”

Ireland’s combination of games over the coming week could barely have been dreamt up by somebody setting out to provide starkly contrasting challenges. Gibson, though, dismisses the suggestion that Gibraltar should be a walkover with a variation on the old line about there being no easy games, while he insists he and the rest of the Irish players are relishing the idea of taking on the world champions.

"If we get three points on Saturday," he says, "all the lads will be looking forward to it against some of the best players in the world. They won the World Cup, so it is good to put ourselves up against a team like that and hopefully we can perform.

“I spoke to Fletch [Scotland’s Darren Fletcher] after their game and he said they can be beat. Maybe they just played well or Germany played bad: I don’t know, but we are going to go into the game focused and try to get something out of it.”

In the meantime, of course, there’s been a bit of talk within the camp about Roy Keane’s new book which, Gibson says, he has yet to see for himself.

When asked about the criticism of their former boss, Alex Ferguson, the player says he doesn't know the detail but has no lingering gripes with the Scot himself. The 26-year-old credits Ferguson with bringing him on at United and is understandably reluctant to get involved in the pair's ongoing spat.

“Obviously Sir Alex brought me in and gave me a chance, so I’ve a lot to be thankful to him for,” he says. “Roy Keane was my idol growing up watching football. They were big influences on my career and it’s nice to be working with one now.

Different views

“I’ve not seen any of the comments [in the book], so I’m in no position to comment,” he continues before being told that Keane describes Ferguson as ruthless.

“Different players have different views,” he replies. “Obviously Roy seen it a different way than I seen it. But Roy was there an awful lot longer than I was.”

Ultimately, he says, “I don’t think there’s anything that personal in the book, to be honest.” Still, he freely admits that he’d prefer not to feature.

The players, he says, have been laughing about it at meals but there is, of course, some basic common sense rules for self-preservation to be observed.

Asked about slagging the Corkman, his answer is stark: “I’ve not tried; I’ll let you try first.”