Roy Keane stands firmly behind ‘courageous’ Glenn Whelan

Glenn Whelan looks pretty much nailed-on to don the green shirt for what will be the 82nd time when Ireland face Georgia in Tbilisi on Saturday.

That he is not only the third most-capped player in the current squad, behind John O’Shea and Aiden McGeady, but actually the most capped Irish midfielder of all time, speaks volumes for the regard in which 31-year-old has been held, first by Giovanni Trapattoni — who, in his own first game in charge, against Serbia in 2008, also handed the Clondalkin man his Irish debut — and now Martin O’Neill.

Yet, far from being garlanded with accolades for his long service to his country, Whelan has all too often found himself singled out for blame as the very personification, in the eyes of his harshest critics, of all the creative failings at the heart of the Irish team.