Keane to return if McCarthy gets job

ROY KEANE will make a quick return to the Irish team if Mick McCarthy leaves to take the manager’s job at Sunderland.

A source close to Keane reiterated last night the Manchester United captain’s desire to return to international duty, provided McCarthy goes.

In an interview last month, Keane said he’d only resume his international career if a new manager was in place. “Even if I was to go back as a player there’d have to be a new manager who could reassure me things are going to be done properly,” Keane said.

Sources close to the player said he still feels the same way, and his days in the green shirt might not be over yet.

FAI officials are said to be bracing themselves for the possibility of losing McCarthy after the Switzerland Euro-qualifier game next Wednesday.

McCarthy has emerged as favourite to succeed Peter Reid as manager at the Stadium of Light. No official approach has yet been made by Sunderland. However, it’s now almost certain that if the struggling premiership club seeks permission to speak to McCarthy, he will tear up his current two-year contract with the FAI.

McCarthy’s future has been in doubt ever since he sent Keane home from Saipan during the World Cup warm-up in May.

The pressure increased again after Ireland crashed 4-2 in Russia in their first European Championship qualifier last month.

Cathal Dervan, who ghost-wrote McCarthy’s biography, said the former Irish captain was prepared to leave the boys in green.

“Mick has had enough of all the back-biting, sniping and criticism since the World Cup and if offered the job he would accept it,” he said.

Paddy Power last night slashed McCarthy’s odds from 16/1 to 1/3 to land the Sunderland job.

Sunderland chairman Bob Murray wants to appoint a new boss before the club’s next Premiership game against West Ham United on Saturday week.