Roy Keane has promised he is "ready and raring to go" for the World Cup finals despite his latest injury scare.
Keane allayed any fitness fears that surfaced earlier this week by leading out the Republic of Ireland for last night's farewell friendly against Nigeria.
Mick McCarthy’s captain lasted 64 minutes of the match before a tackle by Arsenal star Kanu forced him out.
Keane has struggled with knee, hamstring and hip injuries in the last nine months, with the latter understood to be part of the reason why he pulled out of the benefit match for fellow Republic hero Niall Quinn on Tuesday.
Keane now has two weeks to shake off the aches and pains which have plagued him in recent times prior to the Republic's opening Group E match against Cameroon in Niigata on June 1st.
Ahead of McCarthy's squad jetting off to the holiday island of Saipan today for a week's recuperation as part of their build-up towards the tournament, Keane joked: "Obviously it was an Arsenal player who caught me so there might be some history!"
He he said: "But football is a physical sport and you are going to get a few knocks, but I feel fine. I'm hanging in there. I needed to get one or two injuries sorted out earlier this week, but now I'm in great form and I'm ready and raring to go.
"It's going to be a long day with all the travelling, but once we get there with a bit of sun on our backs, then we can start to look forward to it".
Keane also concedes he is in the right of frame of mind for the tournament, despite a barren season with Manchester United. "What has happened this season with Manchester United is history and now I can put it to the back of my mind," he said.
"I said when I was with United that I would not be thinking about the World Cup, so now I'm with the Irish I can concentrate on them and forget all about United".