Delaney draws a line under Keane and Saipan

Football Association of Ireland chief executive John Delaney has insisted Roy Keane’s turbulent past is irrelevant to his impending return to the international stage.

In confirming Martin O’Neill’s imminent appointment as Republic of Ireland manager and with it Keane’s installation as his number two more than a decade after he made an infamous exit from the 2002 World Cup finals in the Far East, Delaney was adamant those events in Saipan have nothing to do with the future of Irish football.