Roy Keane's chances of making his international return before the summer break diminished considerably yesterday when Alex Ferguson confirmed the Corkman was doubtful for next week's FA Cup final in Cardiff and Brian Kerr revealed the midfielder would only be available to him for the first of the Republic of Ireland's four forthcoming friendly internationals.
Ferguson had been talking up the 32-year-old's fitness for several weeks but the Manchester United manager yesterday ruled Keane out of United's last league game of the season against Aston Villa this afternoon, saying he was "still not 100 per cent", just eight days ahead of the Millennium Stadium game against Millwall.
The club's skipper has played in just four of United's last 14 games and aggravated the hamstring injury that is the source of his current problems in the defeat by Liverpool three weeks ago. He has since resumed full training and Ferguson expressed the hope, but with no great confidence, that Keane would complete his recovery in time for next weekend's game.
If Keane failed to appear in Cardiff, Kerr admitted yesterday, "there would have been a fair few weeks between his last game for United and the Romania game."
The Ireland manager didn't, however, rule out the midfielder joining the Ireland squad in just such circumstances and playing a small part in the match at Lansdowne Road on May 27th but he conceded there would still be a question mark over the player's fitness at that stage.
Keane had been widely expected to skip Ireland's games against Nigeria and Jamaica in London over the following week but Kerr said yesterday the player would also miss the trip to Amsterdam in early June because of "domestic commitments".
The Ireland manager was speaking at the press conference where he named a squad of 31 players for the four upcoming games. With a handful of experienced figures - Stephen Carr, Kevin Kilbane, Ian Harte and Damien Duff among them - ruled out by injury Kerr has included a considerable number of more peripheral players, including four who are uncapped.
At just 18, Celtic's Aidan McGeady is the youngest member of the panel but Kerr, who knows the player well from his days with a succession of underage sides, said the teenager's talent had prompted his inclusion.
"We've known for a long time about his tremendous potential," said Kerr. "He's got something a little different about him, something that every club and national team is looking for in the last third of the pitch. He can get shots in and score goals and we don't have too many players in that department so this is a good opportunity to bring him in."
Also called up for the first time are QPR's versatile midfielder Martin Rowlands and Clive Clarke, a left back with Stoke City. Michael Doyle, who travelled to Poland last month but didn't play, is again included.
Aside from Keane, Kerr said a number of other players would not be available for all four games, while there are already doubts about the fitness of Rory Delap and Steven Reid, and a further three, Jason McAteer, Gary Breen and David Connolly, will be late joining up with the squad if their clubs reach the final of the Division One play-offs.
Kerr admitted he was unsure as to how many of the 31 he will have at any given stage of the two weeks the squad are due to be together. With that in mind he has asked a number of players, including Shelbourne's Jason Byrne and Glen Crowe of Bohemians, to be ready to join the panel if the need arises. He said, however, that there was little point in calling up too many at this stage.
"We have enough for the moment," he said. "We've used 26 players already in the three games this year and I don't envisage using the same 11 in these four games.
"If we don't give the younger players a chance now then it will be a while before there's another opportunity to blood them so we'll be looking to get them involved."
FULL SQUAD
S Given (Newcastle Utd), N Colgan (Hibernian), P Kenny (Sheffield Utd), A Maybury (Hearts), S Finnan (Liverpool), K Cunningham (Birmingham), A O'Brien (Newcastle Utd), G Doherty (Tottenham), G Breen (Sunderland), C Clarke (Stoke City), M Holland (Charlton), J Douglas (Blackburn), J O'Shea (Manchester Utd), L Miller (Celtic), R Keane (Manchester Utd), A Reid (Nottm Forest), M Rowlands (QPR), M Kennedy (Wolves), M Doyle (Coventry City), S Reid (Blackburn), A Quinn (Sheffield Wednesday), R Delap (Southampton), S McPhail (Leeds Utd), M Kinsella (WBA), J McAteer (Sunderland), G Barrett (Coventry City), R Keane (Tottenham), A McGeady (Celtic), A Lee (Cardiff City), D Connolly (West Ham), C Morrison (Birmingham).
