Roy Keane in 'Frank' exchange of views at press conference

At the Ireland team hotel in Portmarnock yesterday, Roy Keane was asked by a television reporter if he was prepared to discuss the well-publicised incident in the team hotel last Wednesday, in which the Assistant Manager had a confrontation with Irish fan Frank Gillespie.

In response to the question, Keane said, “No, I’m not.” Asked if it had been a distraction, he replied, with equal brevity, “no”.

And there the matter lay until after the broadcast reporters, as is the usual practice at FAI press conferences, had left the room so that Keane could field questions from the daily print journalists who were present.