Roy Keane: Ireland will stop Scotland in their tracks

Ireland can stop Scotland's resurgence under Gordon Strachan in its tracks tomorrow evening at the Aviva Stadium, according to Roy Keane, who insists that Martin O'Neill and his players have the blend of experience and hunger required to deliver the victory required.

The Scots arrive having suffered just one defeat, by England, in their last seven games, a run that includes a 2-2 draw away to group D leaders Poland and that important win over Ireland in November.

Failure to cancel out that result over the weekend would leave Keane and co with something of a mountain to climb over the campaign’s last four rounds of games but the Corkman is adamant that the game can be won.

“At the moment, the feel good factor seems to be with them,” said Keane in Malahide yesterday. “They’ve got a lot of momentum and they’re getting a lot of plaudits. But when you look at the [Celtic Park] game there wasn’t much between us.

“Obviously Scotland are coming here in good spirits. We need to make sure they’re leaving Dublin in bad spirits.

Home advantage

“I don’t think there’s much between the two teams,” he continued. “You look at the profiles of the players, the squads . . . I’d just hope on the day that home advantage would help, [and we show] a little bit of quality; we’ve obviously got one or two players that weren’t the last game. A bit of luck would be nice and to get the right result.

“But we’ve got a good mix. We have experienced players. You mentioned Robbie, but John O’Shea, Shay Given, vast experience right there. Glenn Whelan . . . these boys know the score. They’ve been around the block a few times like Martin, myself and Seamus [McDonagh], Wally and Gupps [coaches Steve Walford and Steve Guppy].

“We’re not daft, we know what’s at stake but we’re ready for it. Pressure is part of the game. These are the games you look forward to. We had a couple of friendlies last week with the North and England and that’s all well and good, decent games for us, but that was like the foreplay. The action starts on Saturday.”

In addition, to all of the experience he cited, Keane went on to mention Robbie Brady and Seamus Coleman as examples of the younger, hungrier players that also have the ability to have an impact tomorrow evening, although it says something about the profile of the squad that the Donegalman, 27 in October and with a couple of hundred first team games under his belt, gets a mention on that score.

Groin and hip problem

Harry Arter has been ruled out by a groin and hip problem but one of the team's longest serving players, Robbie Keane, took a full part in training yesterday despite the tragic death of one of his cousins a short distance from Ireland's training base on Wednesday in an accident that also left the man's brother in a critical condition.

Keane paid tribute to his namesake’s professionalism when asked about the veteran striker and said he remains an option to start tomorrow although he acknowledged the fact that, with just one full game and an appearance from the bench for LA Galaxy since the start of April when he picked up a groin injury, his lack of match sharpness is bound to be a factor when O’Neill is weighing up the various pros and cons of those available to him for selection.

“Robbie’s fine,” he said. “He’s trained the last one or two days. He got through a full game [on Saturday] but I think it was his first 90 minutes in two months which is . . . listen, it’s not easy for a player who’s very rarely injured.

“The way Robbie’s trained over the last one or two days has been fine. The big issue . . . is match fitness. It’s up for the manager to decide that one.”

Overall he suggested, the team chosen by the manager, something he’s bound to have his say on, will be critical with the northerner having to make a call on how much to allow himself by the prospective strengths of a Scotland team that seemed to win the tactical battle in Glasgow.

Concentration levels

“It’s a balancing act,” he said. “You do your homework no matter who you’re playing, whether it be Scotland or England, you’ve got to do your homework. But also don’t take your eye off the ball with your own team or what you’re all about.

“As I said, I don’t think there was much in the game up in Glasgow but enough in the fact that we lost the game.

“Obviously, concentration levels have to be at their best. Gordon is an experienced manager but Martin O’Neill is pretty experienced, you know. I think it’s pretty close all round. I’m comfortable going into a game with Martin O’Neill as the manager as well.”

Asked what would happen if Ireland lose, his answer was stark: “We’ll have that conversation on Saturday night as you’ll be looking for us, won’t you?”