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.