Irish football is getting ready to measure the fall-out from the disturbing chain of events which led to the appearance of Phil Babb and Mark Kennedy in the Dublin District Court yesterday on charges of breach of the peace and criminal damage to a car.

The immediate punishment is the exclusion of both players from next Saturday's World Cup meeting with Holland at Amsterdam where Kennedy and, possibly, Babb were expected to start the game.

Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy, visibly shaken by the biggest scandal involving the national team in almost 75 years of competition, will reappraise the situation on his return home on Sunday.

Refusing to rule the players in or out of the next game in the championship against Portugal at Lisbon on October 7th, he said: "I'll get Saturday's game out of the way first and then reflect on what's happened.

"Knee-jerk reactions are one thing, but you can end up with egg on your face. I'm not here to condemn nor exonerate - at this point I simply don't know the precise circumstances in terms of what happened."

"One of the first questions Mark asked me after the court appearance was if his international career was over. I told him that I wouldn't be taking any further disciplinary action until I sit down with FAI officials after Saturday's game and see where we go from here."

On his decision to withdraw the players from the travel party, he said: "It was not one I enjoyed making but its an issue I feel strongly about and I had no qualms whatever in making it. We simply cannot condone this kind of behaviour.

"This is a part of the job which gives me no pleasure. These lads have been with me a long time and we've had many happy times together. But at the end of the day, I had to make a decision and we've all got to live with it. I've spoken to them and made my feelings known in no uncertain manner."

McCarthy had delayed a scheduled press conference to witness the court proceedings and then consult with FAI chief executive Bernard O'Byrne. He returned with the players, whom he explained had volunteered to come to the conference to bare their souls. And he expressed his admiration, not just once but twice, for that.

Contrite to the point where sincerity was not in question, Kennedy said that he wished to apologise to the female garda who owned the car, to his family, his girlfriend, Mick McCarthy and all his team-mates.

Asked how he felt when he woke up in a police cell after being taken into custody, he said, simply, "devastated".

Babb was equally profuse in his apologies to the female Garda whose car was involved. "It was just a prank that got out of hand," he said. "It's hard to sit down here and try to convey just how sad we both are. I made it clear that I wanted to apologise to the lady whose car had been damaged. I had a chance to speak to her this morning and apologise but, unfortunately, it passed by."

Elaborating on that lost opportunity, McCarthy said: "I think being locked up in a cell overnight and waiting to go up those stairs into a courtroom occupied all their thoughts."

On the FAI's likely response, O'Byrne said: "It's inappropriate to speculate on that today but my immediate reaction is that withdrawal from Saturday's game in Amsterdam is sufficient punishment. For everybody involved it is a regrettable incident in which there can only be losers."

The news that the players had been detained overnight sent shock waves through the team's headquarters at Dublin Airport. For years the behaviour of Republic of Ireland players, no less than their supporters, was a cause of pride to those of us who travelled with them.

The small size of the group bred togetherness, and with the camaraderie and sense of responsibility engendered by relatively settled personnel, the national team came in time to be regarded as something of an extended club side, a model to which many others aspired.

Now that reputation is undeniably damaged and this was the biggest casualty of all at the end of a day which few of us will forget.

Other team news seemed almost irrelevant. Matt Holland suffered a slight reaction to the injury he took into Ipswich's game on Saturday, but like Mark Kinsella and Steve Staunton, both recovering from calf strains, he is expected to be available.

Robbie Keane joined the squad after travelling from Milan yesterday morning, and later in the day Roy Keane arrived after having a scan of a back problem in a Manchester hospital.