Mischievous Roy relishing crunch

EURO 2016 GROUP D QUALIFIER:

And by the sound of things, so too does Roy Keane.

“I’m glad the foreplay is over,” he announced in Malahide yesterday, before looking down and allowing himself a smile.

And what comes after that, we wondered, entering into the spirit of the moment.

“Hopefully it’s not an anti-climax,” said Keane, another smile peeking through his full beard.

Few in football do mischievous humour quite as well as Roy Keane — and virtually nobody does serious intent better.

“We can talk all we want but it’s about when the referee blows the whistle,” he said, getting his game face on. “That’s why I used to enjoy playing and, hopefully, the players will be the same.

“All this talk that we will have over the next few days is all nonsense, in a sense. It is. What might happen, how we prepare. It’s literally just about getting on with it.”

After two wins in eight friendlies, the most recent being the facile victory over Oman at the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday, Keane needs no telling that the only games that really count begin on Sunday.

“Ultimately we will be judged on what happens in the qualifying matches,” he said. “Obviously I am comfortable and I know the manager is. You are never going to be judged at the end of your career on what you do in friendly matches. Never.

“It’s the same at club level or pre-season, it’s what you do at crunch time. And I have always been comfortable with that. That does not mean that it is going to be easy. I have no doubt that there will be disappointments along the way but — I keep repeating myself — we will be ready. We will be ready Sunday. I can’t wait for it.”

Martin O’Neill still has to finalise his starting 11 — or so he claims in public at any rate — with his choice of goalkeeper a live issue now Shay Given has re-entered the frame.

Since his own arrival at Aston Villa, Keane, of course, has had a close-up view of Given in training, although he reminded us yesterday that he’d previously seen him in action while the veteran was on loan at Middlesbrough.

“I had conversations with Martin,” he explained. “We were looking at the other keepers and if Shay fancied it then why not? Nothing ventured, nothing gained — and he’s been good in the group. Possibly he wasn’t going to be tested against Oman but obviously the manager has got to make a decision.

“He’s got three or four good goalkeepers. I don’t see the big problem with Shay getting back involved.”

Given’s vast international experience, Keane suggested, has to be factored into consideration of the options for Georgia and beyond.

“You can’t shy away from that,” said the assistant manager. “Put it this way, when you go into these qualifying matches, there’s no problem with going with young players who are coping well. But you can’t beat experienced players — even if they’re not in the starting 11 — in amongst the group and on the training pitch and, if you ask the other two or three keepers, I can guarantee they have benefited from Shay being involved.”

And the goal, as always, is to win football matches. Especially competitive ones.

“We know there has been no cutting edge to the games (so far),” Keane observed. “There has been no real pressure. We try and win every game of football but we know it’s crunch time now. That’s why we’re here.

“I’ve never approached any game in my life, and I’m sure it’s the same for the manager, thinking ‘would a draw be a good result?’ You don’t think those things. After the game, you might go ‘that wasn’t a bad result’, if you were 2-0 down with two minutes to go and you nick a point. You’d go ‘brilliant’. Get a man sent off and you might be hanging in there. Or we might be winning 2-0 and that’s a bad draw. The mind-set is can we go and win a game of football.”

Keane is ready. But what about the players? In a far better mental state than those of us in the press box, according to the man himself.

“Yeah, they’ll be fine. I think everyone seems frightened to death in the media. A lot of negativity. Strangely enough, I’m sure if we qualify, you’ll be the first to celebrate and have a jolly-up over there. But from the players’ point of view and manager and staff, a top, top manager, we’ll be ready — don’t be worried about it.

“You keep going on about a hostile atmosphere (in Tbilisi). Brilliant. Bring it on.”