When the updated Ireland squad was released at the weekend, it was done so with a caveat. Shay Given and David McGoldrick were definitely out but of the thirty named, five were to be 'assessed by their respective clubs before reporting for international duty'
Rob Elliot, John O'Shea, Paul McShane, Alan Judge, and Shane Long were the players in question and it's fair to say Roy Keane is less than pleased with that state of affairs. Despite playing a staring role for his club at the weekend, Rob Elliot was being wrapped up in cotton wool by Steve McClaren.
And it's that kind of carry on that Roy Keane has taken issue with during today's press conference following Ireland training. It seems very unlikely that any of those players will play a part in Zenica on Friday judging by what Keane has had to say (even if he did say he wasn't definitively ruling them out) but he'd like the Irish medical staff to make that call rather than the club managers.
Unfortunately, over the years, there's politics involved with club managers and international managers but the injuries they had sort of ruled them out anyway so whatever their managers have said, I've not taken too much notice of.
Keane was pushed on the age-old club vs country debate and, as tends to happen, he took things a bit further.
It’s ironic, with some managers. When international week is coming up, the players always seem to be ruled out for 10 to 14 days. It’s amazing.
The Ireland was then asked about the fact that he'd been looking at things from the club manager perspective as well and he was less than accommodating to that line of questioning.
I have been on the other side of it. What’s your point? I’ve never ruled out players for 10 to 14 days. If players are fit then they’d go away.
When you read the likes of McClaren's comments, it's easy to see why Keane would be frustrated but we'll have to get by with what we have and even if the likes of O'Shea and Long are to miss out, we'll maintain at least a bit of confidence heading to Zenica on Friday.
