Quinn reveals that just a few days the start of the World Cup Irish players were out on a drinking session in a bar on the holiday island of Saipan. Needless to say Roy Keane took no part in it.
For, after announcing that he was remaining with the squad, Keane set himself back on a collision course with McCarthy after giving a highly-critical interview to the Irish Times.
Quinn conveniently fails to report the lead up to the ‘big row’ and tries to lay all the blame at Keane’s door:
"Roy has done an interview with the Irish Times," says Quinn in his autobiography. "Within the squad it is no big deal. We are on the home straight now - going to our World Cup base tomorrow. Anyway, how sensational could an interview in the Irish Times be?
"Before going down to dinner I am informed by the physio Mick Byrne that there will be a meeting after the meal. The restaurant is laid out with round tables and we sit down in groups of seven or eight. I join a table with Roy and Jason McAteer.
"We've been there for a while when Mick McCarthy comes in. He speaks about one or two general matters and then unfurls a copy of the Irish Times.
"Suddenly it's gunfight at the OK Corral but Mick hasn't brought his gun. Roy goes off, rat-a-tat-tat.
"It is the most surgical slaughtering I've ever heard. Mick McCarthy is dismantled from A to Z. His personality, his style, his tactics, his contribution. On it goes.
"Words used include spineless, useless, stupid, gutless. Every grievance is ordered and filed neatly with an appropriate insult attached.
"Incompetent. Ignorant. Backward. Conman.
"We're all mesmerised. For ten minutes it goes on and we sit there in a trance with the blood draining from our faces. This isn't going to end in a group hug. We came out of there like people who had seen a ghost.
"I'll **** off" then" Roy shouts as he gets to the door. "I'll not go to the *****ing World Cup. Now you have your excuse. It's all Roy's fault. See you later lads," And he's gone.
"Early this morning we left the hotel quietly , "continues Quinn in his autobiography. "Roy was alone in a room somewhere upstairs. I am not even sure that any of us knocked and said goodbye.
"On the back seat of the bus where Roy usually sits, one of the lads has stuck a little envelope with "RIP" written on it. It's just a little black joke."
Dead funny eh?