No-nonsense Roy Keane gets stuck into Everton

Roy Keane has said that the most recent updates on James McCarthy’s hamstring injury meant there was simply no point in his being called to Dublin for assessment by the Irish medical staff.

And he revealed that manager Martin O’Neill and the player discussed his situation before the midfielder was finally left out of the squad which will travel to Vienna for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Austria.

McCarthy is the third first-choice player — along with Shane Long and Stephen Ward — who will definitely miss the game, while only yesterday it emerged that there are now fresh doubts over James McClean’s availability.