Breen recalls his Saipan dilemma

Gary Breen may have visited Roy Keane’s room after the Saipan bust-up — but insisted the Cork man had to go for the sake of the team.

The former Irish centre-half spoke for the first time about the controversial events 10 years ago on Setanta’s iTalkSport.

Keane had given him expert advise to clear up an injury in the build-up to the tournament and Breen admitted visiting the Cork man’s room to wish him the best of luck. However, he also stated that the former Manchester United player was not bigger than the team.

“I’m not sure how many of the lads [his former Republic of Ireland colleagues] have commented on Saipan but I never really have because I’ll always look back on it with a heavy heart. It was such a disappointment that it happened that way.

“We worked so hard as a group of players to get to the World Cup and to have an iconic player like Roy Keane, who was feared throughout the world, it would have been great to have him there. But unfortunately it didn’t work out that way.

“Ireland is the priority, not any one individual. People said that we needed Roy at the time, he was an iconic figure for United and his performances throughout that campaign were sensational, but it’s never about one individual, it’s about Ireland and that must always come first.

“What I would say in terms of going to see Roy afterwards was that he was a team-mate. I was just saying all the best. I wasn’t going to let any team-mate just go off and leave the squad [without saying goodbye]. I felt like, ‘listen I don’t agree with you leaving but all the best’.”