Did anyone else completely ignore/not care about the fact that Robbie Keane was 'snubbed' by Martin O'Neill against the Netherlands on Friday?
When you spell it out, it's true that Robbie Keane will likely never play another senior international in Dublin. That's a tough thing to come to terms with when you're as sentimental a bunch as we are. Robbie's going to retire from international football after Euro 2016 and no more will we be able to shout from the rooftops about his 67 goals being a world record for a current international.
Once the curtain comes down on Ireland's Euro 2016 participation, it won't be long before Keane takes his place alongside the likes of Stern John in the storied ranks of former internationals who scored a shedload of goals once upon a time. It's a matter of months away and thankfully, in practical terms, we've been able to deal with that.
As important as Robbie remains to the Irish setup, Martin O'Neill was right to take the tough decision to drop Keane against Scotland in Glasgow and he hasn't looked back. Keane was a squad player as despair somehow turned to qualification and that's the part he's going to play in France. Make no mistake about it, he'll be in the squad, but if he sees more than a cumulative 30 minutes of action, it will be a bit of a surprise.
Which brings us back to the 'snub' on Friday night. It wasn't until seeing mention of it in the Irish Independent this morning before I even countenanced the possibility that Keane could possibly take offence to having to sit through Friday's draw with the Dutch without making an appearance.
It seems unlikely but if Keane is indeed upset about not being given a run out on Friday then fair enough, let him at it. He's done enough for Ireland to throw his toys out of the pram if he really wants to but even if he does address the issue later today, you'd be willing to be bet your house on the fact he'll whip out the book of stock answers and be more than happy to publicly accept the limited playing time he'll have in France.
But does that really have anything to do with Friday night? Where was the harm in Keane being given 15 minutes on the Lansdowne Road turf one last time?
Of the six available to him, O'Neill made five subs against the Netherlands. With Long, Walters and McGoldrick all starting, there was plenty of scope to bring Keane into the game had O'Neill wanted to but the simple fact of the matter is that it wasn't a game for Keane and there were more important things to attend to.
Jon Walters needed 90 minutes under his belt against quality opposition. He's only completed one game since the end of March so that was crucial and as for the introduction of McClean and Hoolahan, seeing them go up against the Dutch defence was simply more important on the night than paying homage to Keane's career.
Time for needless sentimentality to exit stage right. Leave it to the FAI to set up a testimonial after Euro 2016 with the proceeds going to charity. The stadium would be packed and Keane would be given a Dublin send off. That's the time for sentimentality. If, two weeks before the start of a major championship, O'Neill decides to opt against giving Keane a run out then absolutely nothing should get in the way of that.
And having said all that, O'Neill has already suggested that Keane will be given some game-time against Belarus on Tuesday. We'd like to think we've said it before but it must be made clear that Cork really isn't that bad when you get to know it. Keane still has one last chance to play in front of an Irish crowd in an Irish stadium and get the send off he deserves. To suggest that there was some kind of a 'snub' because he didn't get to do that in Dublin is nonsense.
He'll go to France because he's a good option to have from the bench and he's a good influence on the squad. Sentimentality shouldn't come into that decision and neither should it come into O'Neill's thoughts when he's preparing his team for Euro 2016.
And just to reiterate, Cork is rather lovely so there's much worse places than Turner's Cross to be given your home international send-off.
