Roy Keane confident Ireland squad has talent to progress

Despite Robbie Keane's departure, the Republic of Ireland prepare to head to Serbia for the start of the World Cup campaign with pretty much the same group of players that went to the Euros.

Assistant manager Roy Keane believes that the country's next generation of players have plenty of work to do if they are to persuade Martin O'Neill that it is worth discarding the established members of the current squad for them.

In the meantime, he believes there is a good deal more to come from some familiar faces who are still improving. He reckons the likes of Jeff Hendrick and Harry Arter are heading into big seasons in the Premier League.

“Jeff’s a good player,” Keane said. “I’ve liked him for a long time; he’s a strong boy, a good athlete. He has more goals in his locker, but I think he will score more as long as he stays fit and plays regularly. I think it [this week’s transfer from Derby County] to Burnley is a good move for him.

Big challenge

“If you’re playing week in, week out [in the Premier League], you will improve; you have to or you will get found out.

“You’re playing with better players and you’re playing against better players. Jeff’s got a big challenge ahead of him. He needs to kick on but if he keeps improving like he has done . . .

“Harry’s a good player [too]. He scored plenty of goals when Bournemouth were getting a couple of promotions under their belt and we probably haven’t seen that goal threat in the Premier League yet but obviously it’s tough when you are playing for Bournemouth and you have just been promoted and then suddenly you are fighting for your lives; hopefully we will see that this year and we’ll get the benefit.”

Asked about those on the margins, the former Manchester United star emphasised that it was simply a question of the younger players playing regularly at as high a level as possible in order to press their case for inclusion.

He suggested, however, that one or two young players who had been talked about as being major prospects needed to start delivering on their potential.

“We’ll watch the under-21s tonight,” he said “but we’re still waiting for one or two players from that group to kick on. We’re not going to be picking young players for the Irish senior team because they’ve built a reputation yet they haven’t kicked a ball.”

Ankle injury

Séamus Coleman remains a doubt for Monday’s game with the Everton right back still struggling with the ankle injury that has had him sidelined over the last couple of weeks.

“Séamus has trained,” said Keane. “It was a light session, almost a day off in terms of the physical work we were doing. Shéasy got through it no problem, as you would expect. Séamus took part in the full session but it was very, very light and he has stayed behind to do a bit more so yeah, we’re hopeful for Monday.

“I know he hasn’t played much football but, hey, so what?”

Keane declined to say whether Coleman would retain the captaincy if he is available but the Cork man certainly sees him as having the most obvious quality required.

“I think he leads,” he said before asking himself aloud: “Would I compare him to Denis Irwin? I don’t mean in the football sense, but the way Denis played; Denis led by being a brilliant player and Séamus Coleman is the same type of player.

Challenging campaign

“He leads by the way he plays, and that’s by being a brilliant player and a good lad. He doesn’t look like he gets too high one way and too low the other; he’s just a real ‘steady Eddie’ – and I mean that in the nicest possible way, just like Denis was.

"And just the fact that I'm talking in the same breath as Denis Irwin tells you what I think of Séamus. I don't do that with many players."

Whoever plays, Keane acknowledges Monday's game against a Serbia side that is strong even without suspended stars such as Aleksandar Kolarov and Nemanja Matic represents a tricky start to what promises to be a challenging campaign.

“It’s a tough group,” he says. “But we’ve had a lot of tough challenges since we came into the job. The first group, play-off matches, the group in the Euros.

“And what we find with the group of players we have and the squad we have . . . they’ll have a go, they’ll have a go on Monday.

“It is a tough group [with just the top team qualifying automatically but] your aim always in football is to aim for the top, to be number one.

“It’s going to be difficult. There are going to be some ups and downs along the way, just like in the last campaign. We’re back on that rollercoaster.”