THE GHOST OF ROY KEANE

McCarthy admits that he will only be remembered because of Roy Keane and
admits his time could be up as Eire boss.

"Of course his absence brings added pressure, unfortunately, that's a fact of
life and I'm not going to deny it for one minute.

"When Roy played for us in the last campaign we were a better team. I
wanted him to play, we all wanted him to play. He was going to retire after the
World Cup anyway although he has chosen not to in suggesting that he may
play again if I'm not here.

"I can't do anything about that and if that adds a bit more pressure on me then
so be it. This job is still results-based, that's all I come back to. It doesn't
matter what the personnel are, if Roy was playing and we got beat or didn't
qualify, the results are still the same.

"If he's not playing and we don't get results and people are screaming from
the rooftops for him to come back, there is nothing I can do about that. It's a
very sad situation. One of the world's greatest players is not playing for his
country. But that is not of my doing and I can't do anything about it.

"Will this ever go away? No. I will probably have lost my teeth and have no
hair and go to the local pub and someone will shout at me, 'You're that
bollocks that sent Roy Keane home from the World Cup!'"

The Guardian reports that Keane will attempt to broker a 'peace' deal with
Niall Quinn and Steve Staunton. Michael Kennedy, Keano's lawyer has
apparently been told to offer an olive branch to the Irish pair.