Gavin Cummiskeyreports on Roy Keane's views as he visited Dublin for the launch of the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind Shades 2007 Campaign.

After 32 minutes of Roy Keane on tape one journalist wondered aloud whether there would be any room for the monosyllabic tripe that would be dished out later from the Irish training base in Portmarnock.

Keane has never been one to withhold an opinion, but instead of taking a stick to Steve Staunton (Mick McCarthy's chief lieutenant during the Saipan days), the FAI top brass were fingered as the core of all evil that ails Irish soccer.

The questioning became so focused on the Irish team's current plight, and bias against selecting Corkonians, that the PR woman ended the discussion before any queries on Keane's hugely productive, albeit fledgling, managerial career could be broached.

A pity, but he did manage to squeeze in some playful chiding of club chairman, the saintly Niall Quinn, when explaining why he won't be attending Croke Park on Saturday.

"Go to a game or spend time with my family? Family wins."

But what about the ex-internationals' dinner on Friday?

"That's not really my thing. I've spoken to some former players about it. I'm sure Niall will be there, yeah. He's organised it! No, no. I'm sure it will be a good night."

You can just imagine the scene in the chairman's office if Sunderland's form ever degenerates.

There was a moment of hilarity earlier when Keane was interviewed by himself. Well, Radio Roy, aka Today FM's Mario Rosenstock. The mimicked meets the mimic.

"I don't think I laugh like he laughs, but everyone else seems to think he's funny. It was funny, I do laugh every now and again," said Keane. Deadpan.

But down to business.

Last week Keane informed the British media that Cork players have less chance of making international squads, with Liam Miller the current victim of geographical bias. Please elaborate?

"If you are telling me that Liam Miller is not one of the best players - what is the squad that has been named, 22? (actually, it is 24) - there are lads in it that are not even in their first-team squads.

"I don't just say these things. There is no doubt in my mind, Liam Miller being from Cork certainly didn't help him.

"It happened to me at Bray Wanderers when we played against France for the Irish under-16s or 17s, lads getting on in front of me who still had another year underage."

Is it a Dublin/Cork thing? "Well, the lads who got on ahead of me that night were from Dublin and the manager that night was from Dublin."

Changing tone from irate to calmness personified, he adds: "I know Steve Staunton is not from Dublin, but a lot of the FAI are."

The heat-seeking missile was beginning to hone in on its target.

Keane also baulked at the exclusion of Sunderland strikers David Connolly and Daryl Murphy from the squad.

"It's your job as a manager to manage. Pick the right players. When I lose matches at Sunderland I look to see if I have picked the right players. Maybe chop and change. Try different things. But if you keep picking the same players who are not performing all the time, it's insanity, you get the same results."

Considering the number of Irish players at Sunderland, has Staunton made contact? "I think he has tried once or twice, he has left one or two messages. I've tried to get back to him, yeah, but we just keep missing each other." He smiles.

The topic of senior internationals under-performing is next. Here follows the interview's nuclear comments (that will guarantee a picture of Keane and a guide dog in every national newspaper this morning).

"We all know which players we are talking about. There is a fine line between loyalty and stupidity. Very fine line. Yeah, you have got to be loyal to the lads who have done okay, but then to keep playing them on reputations they have built up through the media or because they do lots of interviews, then it's wrong. It's 100 per cent wrong.

"In Steve Staunton's defence, a manager can only do so much. I say it to my players all the time. You can prepare them, make sure training is right, the hotel is right, the travel is right, they look smart, but when they cross the white line it is up to them.

"Come Saturday against Wales, the senior players - four or five of them - have to step up to the plate. But they have been asked before.

"That's why I don't get bogged down in saying we have got world-class players. You look at some of our lads at the bigger clubs - Robbie (Keane) is doing okay at Tottenham, Sheasy (John O'Shea) is in and out at United, Duffer is at Newcastle, Shay is at Newcastle. None of these players at this moment in time are setting the world alight at their respective clubs and at top clubs - and Steve Finnan at Liverpool. People have to take a realistic look at the players he is working with."

Five years on, have FAI learned from the Saipan debacle? "I don't know. I don't care."

Once, at a rugby international, a television camera picked up Keane coincidentally sitting beside the injured Gordon D'Arcy. He has met Eddie O'Sullivan on several occasions. The IRFU is the organisation Keane chooses to contrast with the FAI.

"It's got to be all or nothing. It goes back to me in 2002, if you prepare for something and it's not right, then you're going to get bloody nowhere. You see that in the rugby lads. They don't seem to be resting on their laurels. They don't seem to be patting each other on the back for winning Triple Crowns. They want to be winning Grand Slams and going to the World Cup, and giving 100 per cent. That comes from the manager and the staff. I've met the manager and staff, and that's what they believe. That gets through to the players."

Is it because O'Sullivan is a Corkman?

"Possibly. And he selects a lot of Munster players."