Kerr anxious to reintegrate bruised and battered Keane

ROY KEANE was ushered into Ireland's training camp through the back door of their Portmarnock hotel yesterday but is struggling to overcome knee and thigh injuries in time to make his comeback against Romania at Lansdowne Road tomorrow.

Keane received treatment at Old Trafford early in the day and is expected to train with the squad of 26 players today at Malahide before a decision will be made on his fitness. It is likely he will play for a limited period of the match to complete his return after two years' absence.

Manager Brian Kerr is anxious to include Keane because he is not available for the three internationals in the following nine days against Nigeria on Saturday; Jamaica on Wednesday in London; and against Netherlands in Amsterdam on Saturday, June 5.

The manager will be hoping a return by Keane will put an end to speculation about the possible public reaction to his come-back and re-establish him as a regular member of the international squad.

Keane declined to speak to the Irish press corps when he later walked through the lobby of the hotel on his way to the dining room. He suggested he might agree to an interview after today's training session.

Kerr confirmed that Sunderland's Jason McAteer will miss the game but suggested it was possible he will join the squad in London. The absence of McAteer removes one possible flash-point with Keane. McAteer was involved when Keane was shown a red card in Sunderland's first match against Manchester United after the 2002 World Cup finals.

Said Kerr: "Jason is still receiving treatment at Sunderland and I don't expect to have him before London, if at all. I'm waiting to hear on that one. With the injury he had been carrying over the whole season, I suggested to Jason he should take this week to recover from the play-off matches and the intensity of the Sunderland games late in the season and make a decision then on whether he comes in for the last two games in London rather than the first ones."

Kerr had better news about two of Ireland's other injured players, Liam Miller and John O'Shea: "Liam trained and he's fine for the moment. There is a problem there with the groin and he may need surgery on that but I'm hoping he's going to be okay and available to us on Thursday."

O'Shea was recovering from a kick in the ankle from Saturday's Cup final and went for a precautionary scan yesterday. But Kerr confirmed that he expects the United defender to train today to confirm that he will play against Romania.

Kerr made light of the absence of many of his regular squad but he still defended a busy Irish schedule that has been criticised by others, including Birmingham City manager Steve Bruce. He said the closely-packaged programme of games suited his purpose of giving younger players experience ahead of next September's opening game in the World Cup against Cyprus.

He said: "We're down 11 options at the moment so obviously we don't have everyone we would like to have and we're missing some of the more experienced players. But I'm sure we'll gain a lot from this.

"The matches will be very challenging, we'll be playing four teams ranked in the top 50 in the World and whatever team we put out on the pitch will be competitive and it'll help us. Part of the process we're going through is that we want to establish a squad of players for the future that's broader and has some experience with players who will be able to come in and do a job if required."

He admitted that he did not expect to have all of his selection problems ahead of the World Cup solved after Ireland's match against Netherlands but suggested that when Ireland play their last challenge game before the tournament against Croatia or Bulgaria in Dublin in August he intended to have his first-choice 11 in action.

He said: "These matches won't clear up the picture exactly for the Cyprus match but I'm sure some players will emerge and do well over these games who will put themselves into the frame for the start of the World Cup campaign.

"The World Cup campaign is going to involve a lot of matches over a two-year period so it is important that the next match after these, the August match, there won't be so much change.

"It will be nearer to what we want for the World Cup, for the lads who have had operations in the Summer, and the longer-term injuries really should have recovered by then ... Colin Healy, I hope, Damien [Duff], Kevin Kilbane, Richard Dunne, Ian Harte, Stephen Carr, should all be back and we hope they'll be back in contention by August."

Kerr paid tribute to Spurs centre-forward Robbie Keane who, at 23 years of age, will win his 50th cap against Romania "It's a great achievement for one so young. It is a sign of his consistency and of his consistent desire to play as well, to be available, to play in all the games, as well. It is a fantastic achievement at such a young age to get 50 caps."

The manager helped to plug one of the gaps made by the many withdrawals by calling up Nottingham Forest's defender, John Thompson, and expressed the hope that those currently preparing for the match against Romania would all be fit and well to enjoy the special atmosphere of a match against Netherlands in Amsterdam a week on Saturday.

He said: "Holland obviously represent a huge challenge and they are sure to be in fairly buoyant form. They have an outstanding squad of players, so it will be a different game and it will be a game in some ways similar to the atmosphere of playing away to Israel and Cyprus, Switzerland and France, particularly.

"So it will be a good match for us in the light of the games that lie ahead. In terms of experience for the players who will play there will be real value in it.

"I thought there was real value in the match in Poland, I thought that we were nice and solid, we gave very few chances away, we were composed under the pressure, dealt with some of the funny decisions in the game, kept our discipline and didn't create enough chances to satisfy us. But overall it fitted the bill well and we can take it on from there."