Keane enters the race to sign O'Donovan

SOCCER:Not a man commonly associated with swift about-turns, Roy Keane staged what was a welcome one from Roy O'Donovan's perspective yesterday when he revealed he was bidding to sign the under-21 international from Cork City.

Just 48 hours earlier the Sunderland boss had suggested his present attacking options were such the striker would be surplus to requirements. By last night, though, the pair were expected to meet, Keane's aim being to dissuade O'Donovan from travelling to London, where the plan was to complete a move to Craven Cottage today.

"We're in talks," said Keane yesterday at Turner's Cross, where his squad were training for tonight's friendly with City. "Roy's a goalscorer. I talked to someone last night and felt we should go for him. It's just a gut feeling and it's not a done deal yet; we're just talking.

"We're aware that the player had planned to travel to London to speak with Fulham and undergo a medical tomorrow but nothing had been signed yet. We hope we're not too late."

Keane said if the 21-year-old O'Donovan agreed the Stadium of Light was the right place to forward his career, he, Keane, would agree, as Lawrie Sanchez of Fulham had agreed, to loan the player back to City until the end of the season.

Though there may be a small increase in the fee, the price struck with Fulham, a basic €450,000 with the possibility of €250,000 in achievement-related add-ons, is unlikely to substantially change with destination.

O'Donovan is, however, in a good position to benefit significantly from the added competition for his signature. And the lure of working with Keane at a club where other young Irish players are getting opportunities to develop their talents may prove irresistible.

The club's most recent Irish recruit, Paul McShane, made his debut on Saturday night at Dalymount Park, where Bohemians were beaten 1-0 in what was, by the standards of these things, an entertaining game.

There will be many much sterner tests in his first season of Premiership football but the defender and the man who signed him had considerable cause for satisfaction with his efforts here; the 21 year-old was inspired.

"You saw what I brought Paul to the club for," said Keane later, "plenty of commitment and a few tackles. There was a great block in the second half."

That was a reference to just one of the many positive contributions from McShane over the 90 minutes.

Having played a league game the night before, Bohemians were below strength but the Dubliners competed well before a mixture of tiredness and the many substitutions required in the circumstances left them struggling a little toward the end.

Manager Seán Connor used the game to look at a couple of trialists and said afterwards he expected the pick of them, the Galway-born midfielder Stephen O'Donnell, to sign for the club within days.

"I have an agreement with him that he's coming to the club if he doesn't get one in England before Tuesday," said Connor.

Conor Powell, however, may be leaving soon. The hugely promising young defender, who did well again here, is expected to have a trial with Wolves this coming week.

Stern John scored the game's only goal 10 minutes from time, when he did well to exploit a mix-up between Conor Rafferty and goalkeeper Josh Mimms (son of Bobby), but there was little else to please the manager about Sunderland's finishing.

John, Michael Chopra and Kieran Richardson missed clearcut chances as the locals in the sell-out crowd of 7,700 took obvious amusement from the poor quality of the close-range shots in question.

Keane made light of his side's misfiring and insisted he had been encouraged by the performance.

His current good humour is understandable. He may have struggled to get the players he wanted in the transfer market but the fact the games at Dalymount, Turner's Cross and Terryland Park sold out suggests his club's longer-term campaign to develop a support base in this country is coming along nicely.

Like Fianna Fail, Sunderland have taken a tent at this week's Galway races in order to entertain some of its would-be benefactors.

And as with the main party of Government, there is a distinctly regional aspect to the popularity of the "main man"; Keane, who will no doubt receive a rapturous reception in Cork this evening, was booed by a good portion of the crowd as he emerged from the tunnel on Saturday.

The same fate, of course, has befallen Bertie Ahern on occasion, but while the Taoiseach has usually been diplomatic to a fault about hecklers, Roy was a little more frank when asked about them yesterday, the Corkman simply observing: "Every club has its scumbags."