Keane set to return to Irish squad

Roy Keane, who suffered a mild reaction to a recent knee injury on his return to Manchester United's team in Austria on Wednesday, is expected to be named today in the Republic of Ireland squad for the meeting with Macedonia on October 9th.

After marking his return for his first game in three weeks scoring the first of United's goals in their 3-0 win over Sturm Graz, he was substituted in the 61st minute, at a stage of the game when he appeared to be coasting.

"I'm still not 100 per cent happy with my knee but the game went as well for me as I could have expected," he said. "I think the manager was concerned I might overdo things on my first game back and took me off.

"I'm not sure what the situation is for Saturday's game against Southampton but I'll be very disappointed if I'm not in the side for next Wednesday's European game against Marseille."

That assessment was largely endorsed by Alex Ferguson who said he was very pleased with the midfielder's return. "He handled the game easily enough and I would definitely expect him to be involved in the Marseille match," he said.

Denis Irwin, playing his second game since returning from injury, got through the full 90 minutes in Austria without problems and will be available for selection against Southampton.

Irwin, in Dublin yesterday to promote the Carlsberg Night Owls tournament, will be included when Mick McCarthy goes public this morning with his squad for the European championship game in Macedonia.

McCarthy was making no comment about David Kelly, whom he watched in Tranmere's 3-1 defeat by Coventry City in their return League Cup game on Wednesday, beyond saying that the veteran striker did reasonably well in a difficult situation.

Gerhard Aigner, UEFA's general secretary, yesterday hinted at a new subsidiary competition to fill the void caused by a fall off in the number of friendly international games being played this year.

"If national federations are no longer interested in friendly international fixtures, there may be a need for a new competition to stimulate them," he said.

"We have 20 dates for international football each year and after the sharp upturn in interest in club games, its very important that we fill them," he said.