Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane extend Ireland contracts

Martin O'Neill and his Republic of Ireland management team have finally committed to another campaign with the northerner, Roy Keane and the rest of the backroom staff finalising the terms of their various contracts for the World Cup 2018 on the eve of the squad's departure for France.

The manager said that he was "delighted" to sign up for another two years, describing, as he has done many times, the opportunity to do the job as a "privilege", and insisting that he is relishing the challenge of the next few weeks and then, beyond that, of the bid to secure a place in Russia.

It is believed he and the rest of the management team have secured significant pay rises to stay on. O’Neill was on €1 million for the last couple of years, with Keane earning about €300,000.

Denis O’Brien previously funded about 70 per cent of that €1.3 million combined wage bill and it is not clear at this stage what his contribution will be to the new deal but, perhaps significantly, he was not, as he usually is, publicly thanked in Tuesday’s announcement.

Keane had given no indication earlier in the day that announcement was imminent but the Cork man was upbeat about the squad's departure for France and the fact that he is still on course to be involved with the game against Sweden. "I'm just glad to be making it to the tournament," he joked. "Usually I miss out on these things . . ."

Keane acknowledged he had spoken to a few players over the last few days to apologise for the harshness of his comments in the wake of the Belarus game last week but said there was nothing unusual really about what had happened.

Apologise

“When I’ve been a manager before or a player or a coach at this level – and I’ve done it many times at club level – if I think I’ve gone over the top on certain things I will speak to people and I will apologise. I’ve no problem with that.

". . . I've pulled players in at Sunderland and at Ipswich. I remember it like it was yesterday. Pulling a few young players in that we had on loan.

“I was really hard on them in training and I pulled them in afterwards and I said, ‘I was over the top’, and they were fine, so it does happen.”

Though Jon Walters’s calf injury appears to be causing Keane and the rest of the management team more concern now than it was when it first happened last week, the Corkman feels the preparations are generally going well with the squad, as a whole, edging towards tournament mode.

“I sense it, if I’m being honest, yeah, different maybe energy levels, after the one or two days off with us flying tomorrow [Wednesday]. You feel it in the group. It’s only natural that you get that near the tournament. For us as coaches, it’s about getting the work load right now.

Training

“There’s no good peaking today, we’ve got to peak next week. That’s where the training and the experience of the manager comes in, and hopefully my experience, we’ve got an experienced group of players . . .”

Four years ago, the players complained about the intensity of the build-up with Keiren Westwood admitting only last week that many of the squad felt "wrecked" in Poland before the first game. That is something that O'Neill and co. have clearly sought to avoid with the squad staying in Ireland for its pre-tournament training and the players getting more time off than under Giovanni Trapattoni.

There are then, it is put to Keane, no excuses this time . . .

“If we lose the three games, I’m sure we’ll find some, don’t worry!” he says with a laugh. “It’s the nature of the game we are in. It’s wrong for me to comment on what happened in the previous campaign but ultimately, when you lose matches, people will hone in on different stuff.”

Keane feels that the balance struck on the social side of things has been good too with players having more of a say in what they take part in than he did in his day. “I remember when I was in the Irish squad . . . I think we had to go to a music concert. I think it was the Stereophonics – I don’t even like them and I had to go.

“I don’t want to go, ‘You have to, it’s the squad!’

“So the days are gone that you are dragging people around to concerts. It’s more, ‘Listen lads, that’s on tonight, if you fancy it – if you don’t . . . you’re dropped’,” he says, breaking into grin.

The point, he says, is that as close as the group are, they can do with time away from each other too. They will all, it seems, be spending time together for a couple more years yet.