Ireland will be without the services of inspirational captain Roy Keane for the second leg of their World Cup play-off with Iran in Tehran on Thursday.
The combative midfielder flew back to Manchester this morning after feeling discomfort in his injured knee having played the full 90 minutes in Ireland’s 2-0 first leg victory over the Iranians last night.
Irish boss Mick McCarthy said: "Roy’s knee stiffened up considerably this morning. It was obvious he would not be able to play two games in five days and we had no choice but to send him back to his club".
Keane had been a doubt going into last night’s match but had deemed himself fit enough to play given the importance of the fixture. Although tiring towards the end of the fiery encounter, the Manchester United captain had been confident of joining his teammates on tomorrow morning’s flight to Tehran.
"I have to see how it responds. It is how I feel on Sunday morning that will decide everything but it seems okay now and I had no problems getting through the match" he said after the match.
The loss of Keane’s presence in midfield will surely be a big blow for the Irish team who must try to protect their two goal margin in front of a 120,000 strong partisan crowd on Thursday.