Roy Keane draws inspiration from Jack Charlton’s mantra

As with French and the Henry handball, the foreign media sometimes seems to be stuck in a little bit of a timewarp when it comes to the Irish football team. Nothing any manager has done over the past 20 years doing anything, it seems, will shake the association of Jack Charlton and his penchant for giving it a lash.

In many ways, Wedneday's defeat of Italy should have helped to revamp our image abroad for there was a fair bit of football played in a game that Ireland not only won but dominated. The use of a slight variation on 4-4-2, though, felt like a bit of a throwback, however, and as for the calls beforehand to play with "balls"...

Now, though, as the current team seek to emulate the side managed to the quarter-finals of a major championship by the Englishman back in 1990, Roy Keane is unashamedly drawing inspiration from the Charlton era.

"As Jack said years ago, 'put 'em under pressure'," he says when asked about the way forward for this Irish side when they take the field against France in Lyon on Sunday afternoon. "I'm sure there's a song about that, you know. Put them under pressure. You do that by getting a foothold, tackling, by getting the ball into the box, by getting midfield runners, by your decision making, by being physical, having good energy levels.

“All that goes into the mix and the big challenge for us is that while we did really well against Sweden, we couldn’t quite get those levels up against Belgium; they were back up against Italy but can we get them back for France? That’s the challenge for any sportsperson.: to keep those standards up. Fingers crossed whatever the starting XI will be, they can rise to the occasion, put in a good performance.

“I’ve said it before; it doesn’t guarantee you’ll win a game of football, of course it doesn’t. We could play fantastic on Sunday, miss one or two chances and lose the game. We were only five or 10 minutes from going out against Italy after missing some chances. If we get them again, take them.

“But we have achieved the first part of our challenge - to get out of the group. Now let’s stay here for another few weeks.

“I think sometimes when you are playing the group games, it doesn’t suit our mentality,” he continued. “I said that last week. It’s a cup game this weekend. Let’s go for it. There will be a result one way or the other. We will leave nothing behind. I think there is that feeling.”

Like the players, Keane seems to see beating France first and foremost as the gateway to the last eight and he is utterly dismissive of the notion, largely amongst the local media, that the prospect of revenge for 2009 is about all that sustains the Irish in advance of this game.

“Honestly, it’s not crossed my mind for one second,” he says. “How can it have an effect on this game - lots of different players, different managers, different competition. I don’t think it comes into it. Really, I don’t. It’s gone now. We’ve all been involved in sport, seen decisions right and wrong, for and against teams. I don’t think it has any relevance to our game on Sunday; none whatsoever.

“We have to trust the referee to make the decisions on the night. You’ve just got to get on with it. It’s par for the course: offside decisions, balls over the line - it’s what makes it a great game. If people want to talk about something that’s gone on a few years ago, you’re talking to the wrong man. No interest in it.”

Well, the French seem to be obsessed with it, somebody suggests.

“I’m not French,” he replies. “You’re aware of that, aren’t you?”