Missing players a blow but squad is strong enough, says Keane

Roy Keane admits that he is not expecting any of Ireland's injured players to be fit in time for Friday night's European Championship play-off first leg in Zenica but the former Manchester United star is still hopeful that the squad is strong enough to push Bosnia and Herzegovina all the way for a place in France next summer.

“With the injuries that we’ve had over the last couple of weeks,” he said, “I’d sort of ruled the boys out anyway and if they become available over the next day or two for the second leg then it would be a fantastic bonus. You could see from the injuries that they had, that they were sore ones.

“But we never thought that we’d be coming into these games without injuries or suspensions. Injuries are par for the course. I never thought for one minute that we’d turn up this week and everyone would be available. It’s just not possible. It’s disappointing but the boring answer is that it’s part of sport.

“The beauty of this week is that after all the talk last month of play-offs and seedings and all the rest of it, this week we know that if we do the business we qualify and if we don’t we won’t.... so let’s try to concentrate on doing the business.

“Whatever happens, we know that the lads who start on Friday will give it all that they’ve got and that’s all we can ask for. If we deliver the performance then the result will hopefully take care of itself. Sometimes things can go against you but let’s try to get the lads fit and strong and ready for Friday night and see where that takes us. Hopefully after that the result will take care of itself.”

With the likes of Rob Elliot and Shane Long still rated as major doubts for both games, Keane expressed some exasperation over the inclination of club managers to rule their players out of entire international windows so as to allow them recover in time for the subsequent league games. However he did say that he appreciated that in cases like John O'Shea's it was reasonable for Sam Allardyce to be reluctant to let him go.

“John’s injured,” he said. “When you pull up with a hamstring like that it’s a difficult one to come back in terms of an international game. So I understand a manager wanting to look after his player in that context; not just Sam Allardyce. Managers want to look after their players at club level and they would have the attitude that if a player hasn’t been available for their clubs then it’s a lot to ask for them to go away on international duty.

“It’s ironic, with some managers (though), when international week is coming up, the players always seem to be ruled out for 10 to 14 days. It’s amazing.”

When it was suggested to him that he had been in that particular boat himself, he said: “Yeah. I have been on the other side of it. What’s your point?

“I’ve never ruled out players for 10 to 14 days. If players are fit then they’d go away. If they’re not then that’s another thing. It’s ironic, especially with managers that have been international managers themselves.”