STICK IT UP YOUR B*******

"Roy Keane could be back in the Republic of Ireland squad within a matter of months. Mick McCarthy repeated last night that he would not be driven away from his job as manager but, after another day of bloodthirsty headlines, it is apparent that the chain of events that would lead to Keane's return is not far away.

"Despite his public utterances McCarthy would not dispute in private that, if a Premiership job became available before Ireland's Euro 2004 qualifying matches against Georgia and Albania next March and early April, he would happily sever his ties with a nation that shows signs of turning against him.

"That, in turn, would prompt the Football Association of Ireland to invite Keane back; his adviser Michael Kennedy has acknowledged it is an offer his client would find hard to turn down. However unfair it is on McCarthy, what was a minor possibility a few months ago has become a major probability."

However McCarthy insisted:

"I have got a contract until 2004 and unless someone tells me differently I'll keep fighting on.

"Why should I walk away? Myself and the players have always given everything to this and I don't think I should change. I am not going to walk away from it. If someone wants to make that decision then fine.

"I feel sorry for the players. It affected the spirit and the team morale. I am not going to criticise them."


The Republic were booed off the pitch at the end of Wednesday's match amidst cries of 'Keano'. McCarthy said:

"The crowd's reaction disappointed me, but it was to be expected and it has been driven anyway from certain quarters.

"What I can't get my head round is that we have gone from the heights of our performances in the World Cup to a standard far, far lower."

McCarthy's agent Liam Gaskin:

"The English media seems to recognise Mick's achievements - his record is as good as any international manager [not without Keane in the team it ain't] - but what is happening in sections of the Irish press is just despicable.

"One Irish newspaper claimed, without the slightest grain of truth, that Mick had been booed in a Dublin pub. Now we've learned that, after the final whistle on Wednesday, one of our better-known Sunday journalists jumped up, punched the air and shouted: 'Great result.'

"I don't think he was doing that because Ireland lost, but because he and his colleagues thought they had won in terms of forcing Mick's departure. It is personal and vindictive."