Bruised but unbowed Keane shrugs off injury fears

Ten minutes had melted away through the pores of the Aviva Stadium last Saturday when Robbie Keane was sent crashing to the turf and a stadium — and nation — held its breath.

Boris Pandza hasn’t exactly pulled up many trees in a career that currently has him turning out for KV Mechelen, a mid-table outfit in Belgium, but he very nearly made a name for himself when catching the Irish captain flush in the ribs with a lunging knee.

The subsequent sight of Shane Long and Jonathan Walters wreaking havoc in the Bosnian defence after the break reiterated Giovanni Trapattoni’s many attacking options but an Irish side ‘sans Keano’ is still sufficient to give the Italian nightmares.

“Yeah, I got a knee into the ribs,” said the LA Galaxy player.

“I found it hard to breathe for a few minutes. It’s okay now. It’s sore now and might be for a couple of days but it’s not going to be a major problem. It was all fairly innocuous. Challenges you expect.”

Keane managed another 53 minutes before making way for Long. There were suggestions he should have been rested altogether but he hasn’t been all that happy with his form in the USA despite three goals in nine games for Galaxy and was keen to play.

As it happened, Pandza’s clumsy kung-fu impersonation was a rare break from the inertia that gripped a Bosnian side counting down the minutes to the season’s end but Safet Susic’s side served a useful purpose nonetheless.

“Bosnia are a very similar team to Croatia. They like to get the ball down and pass it. They did that a lot in the first half but didn’t really bother us too much after that. And then we managed to create a few chances ourselves.

“It was a positive performance. They had a lot of possession without actually doing anything. We created all the chances. We’ll certainly be a danger in this competition,” insisted Keane who has previously railed against Ireland’s status as underdogs in Group C.

A run of 13 games unbeaten — and one in which they have conceded just three goals — would suggest Ireland will be difficult to beat, at the very least but the performances of Aiden McGeady and James McClean on Saturday held out a promise of something more.

After all, Trapattoni’s side will have to win at least one of their three games if they are to have any hope of progressing to the quarter-finals and Keane believes the former Celtic winger will be key to that.

“I thought Aiden did superbly well… I’ve said before that Aiden McGeady can light up the championship. I don’t want to put any pressure on him but he’s one player who can certainly make a difference to our team.

“And James did ever so well, for somebody playing in his first full international. Every player needs competition, it keeps them on their toes. James came in and did very well, he’s doing well for Sunderland. So the competition for places is good.”