End of the Affair

BRIAN KERR last night wished Roy Keane well in his future career with Manchester United but expressed his disappointment at the timing of his announcement to retire.

Kerr dealt in typically blunt fashion with the background to a story that has run since June when Keane clashed with the then manager Mick McCarthy at the World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea.

Ireland's new manager walked out of an Irish training session at Hampden Park and, still in his tracksuit, held an impromptu press conference in Kilmarnock within minutes of the announcement of Keane's retirement from international football.

He refused to allow any questions from the assembled press corps and revealed in an off-the-cuff statement that:

(1) He had spent three hours with Roy Keane on Thursday last;

(2) That he believed the meeting had gone 'very, very well';

(3) That Keane had given him 'an unequivocal commitment that he would be back to play in the team';

(4) That Keane had committed to travelling to Scotland to start the process in relation to his return for the matches in Georgia and Albania;

(5) That he had agreed with Alex Ferguson on Monday that there would be no statement on this issue until the match was over tonight and that it would be Thursday before there was any statement issued.

(6) That he believed that Keane met Alex Ferguson and the medical people of Manchester United and as a result of that meeting he called on Friday to say that he was in a position of having to re-think his position. Kerr, as ever the pragmatist, brushed aside any possible inquisition into the surprising timing of the statement by refusing to delve into the past.

Instead he focused on the present and on the future when he said; "I'm going to move on. I have 40 players here at the moment who want to play for Ireland.

"There's a match starting across the road shortly. I need to go over and see that match. I need to move on with the players who want to play for Ireland for the future. That is what I intend doing."

The statement of Keane's retirement apparently came through his legal advisor, Michael Kennedy in London, and there was no disguising Kerr's view of the manner in which the statement was issued.

He said: "I have a match tomorrow night. You can understand I'm a little disappointed it has broken this evening just when I was on the training pitch. But however, that's how it goes."

He immediately focused on the issues of the moment and of the media scrum that swirled around him in the lobby of the Irish team's headquarters in Kilmarnock.

He consigned the Keane saga to history at least in so far as it affected him and his Irish team by saying: "We have a match tomorrow . I've a lot of work to do to get the team ready between tonight and tomorrow.

"As you know earlier today I gave the media an hour and ten minutes of my time. I gave you a lot of time yesterday, I gave you a lot of time since last Tuesday week, and I won't be giving you a lot more time tonight.

"I certainly won't be giving you a lot more time on this. I don't intend speaking about Roy Keane again.

"I will be speaking about any of the other players that you want to ask me about who are in our squad."

He admitted he had been disappointment at the development but closed the issue with the warm comment: "I wish him the best of luck.

"I hope it goes well for him and Manchester United as he has wished me the best of luck with my plans for the team for the future."

The surprise was that the statement should have come from the source it did and on the eve of Ireland's match against Scotland. And Kerr indirectly suggested that the decision had effectively been made, not by Keane, but by other agencies.

Said Kerr: "Earlier on Friday, before I spoke to Roy, Ferguson had called me to explain the medical difficulties and also to explain that it was not the desire of Manchester United that he should continue to play for Ireland.

"Roy called me last night (Monday) to tell me that he had made the decision not to return to play for the Republic of Ireland, that he had discussed it with his family and that he was disappointed to have to tell me that."

Kerr indicated that he had immediately turned his attention to more immediate concerns.

He said: "I've been employed by the Association to do this job irrespective of whether Roy was going to play or not.

"I made no commitment to the FAI that Roy would return and they did not make any demands on me that I would pick certain players or that any individual player would play in the team and that is how it will stay.

"So I hope you'll respect what I've said to you. It's the truth."

With that Kerr was gone to progress his plans for Ireland's future by watching Ireland's U21 team effectively Ireland's second choice team in action against Scotland.

And the door closed on one of the most extraordinary sagas of Ireland's colourful sporting history.

It was left to FAI President Milo Corcoran to issue a brief statement in which he said: "The FAI is disappointed with the news that Roy Keane has retired from international football.

"We now have to concentrate on the challenges in hand the match against Scotland and the remaining qualifying games in Euro