Roy Keane and Ireland taking nothing for granted

There was a moment yesterday after training in Abbotstown when Roy Keane suddenly seemed surprised by his own tone as talked about Gibraltar.

“I think, honestly, their points, the goals against, it doesn’t look great,” said the Corkman. “But any time we’ve gone to watch them over the last few days and we’ve looked at clips, they have improved.”

Somewhere around this time a smile broke over Keane’s face. It was gone again just as fast but for a fleeting moment t was as if old Roy, the fearsome footballer, was suddenly bemused by the things new Roy, the diplomatic manager, feels the need to say sometimes.

Having uttered something slightly similar, of course, about San Marino moments after Ireland had been lucky to beat them away a few years back came to haunt Steve Staunton subsequently but the former Manchester United star knows well that the pre-match stuff has to be respectful.

Ireland’s campaign may not have gone to plan so far but failure in Faro tomorrow is not an option. And yet it would not be wise to provide the opposition manager with material for his pre-match team talk.

Same respect

“Hopefully, when I look back on my career I have tried to treat every team with the same respect,” he said by way of acknowledgement.

“There is a lot of experience in our dressing room, and an experienced manager and the one thing we won’t do is take our eye off the ball in terms of training or think we can just turn up and win a game of football. It doesn’t pan out that way.

“We’ve seen clips of Gibraltar and, particularly when they’re at home, they can cause problems. They have a bit of pace and honesty in their team. They have scored the odd goal here and there, created chances against Germany so we know we can’t take our eye off the ball.”

Ireland are on course to have everyone available for selection. Paul McShane sat out training yesterday with a minor back problem but Jon Walters had arrived in and James McCarthy featured despite the "knock" that had prompted Everton to have the FAI send him for a scan.

“He did get a knock last week but I think if you’re playing midfield in the middle of the park, you should be getting knocks every week,” said Keane, reverting to his more traditional self.

“That’s the name of the game. You’re hitting people; they’re hitting you.

“I’m always concerned when lads turn up, particularly midfielders, and they’ve not had knocks. You’re supposed to get knocks. You’re supposed to get knocks in training. It’s part of the game. He’s trained today and I think he had a scan yesterday, a precautionary scan, but he’s fine . . .these Everton players, they’re all fit which is good.”

The last line was, it seemed, a tongue-in-cheek swipe at a club that was not best pleased when Aiden McGeady took an injection in March so that he could play against Poland while less than fully fit. Now, the midfielder is on the sidelines at his club and struggling once again to be completely right this week and for Keane, the 29 year-old is something of a concern.

Four days

“He’ll be involved anyway because he’s here,” said Keane who also acknowledged that Marc Wilson’s lack of competitive game time is ‘less than ideal’. “Everyone who is here has got a part to play whether it’s starting or coming from the bench.

“But we’ve got two games over three or four days so he’ll play a part. As I said it’s not ideal for players who aren’t playing regularly and Aiden’s missed a lot of football. I think he missed most of preseason with the injury, going back to the end of end of last season; that’s not ideal, but if we need him and he starts or comes on as sub, I’m sure he’ll do the business for us.”

The former Irish skipper was more upbeat about the introduction of one or two new faces to the squad and seemed impressed by Eunan O’Kane.

“I like him,” he said. “We’ve seen him a number of times playing for his club and he’s progressed really well.

“If you’re playing the in the Premier League or, obviously, the Championship, sometimes you move up to international level you maybe find it slightly easier because other teams do let you have the ball. If you can control it and deal with it – which you hope most professional footballers can but believe me a lot of them can’t do – you’ve got a chance.”

Ireland should have rather more than a chance against opponents who are still ranked as Europe's weakest team. The preparations have been professional, everyone insists, though, with Stephen Quinn noting that some of the squad wanted to play golf this week "but it was knocked on the head and that was that".

The Reading midfielder, who joked that a Jon Waters heat map on Tuesday would have had the forward "all over Britain," skipped the trip to the cinema see Straight Outta Compton too to watch Dundalk against Rovers on the TV with Shay Given and Robbie Keane. Duff's non-appearance, though left them all disappointed.

Here’s hoping that’s as bad as it gets for this week.