Emmet Malone reports from Helsinki Finland v Rep of Ireland Helsinki, today, 6.0 live on Network 2

If the extracts of his book are anything to go by, then there isn't much in this life that Roy Keane doesn't take a dim view of or many in the game that fail miserably to live up to his own high standards.

Certainly there is only contempt at this stage for the man who starts his fourth two-year cycle as Republic of Ireland manager in Helsinki this evening when quite a few observers would have been sceptical about his chances of getting beyond his first.

Keane attacks Mick McCarthy's Captain Fantastic tag with predictable venom in his memoirs and it is likely that he would be almost as scathing of Jason McAteer's light-hearted reply to a question yesterday about what type of skipper he hopes to be be.

"Sensible," he beamed to general laughter and some bemused head shaking from his manager. Though McAteer, it seems, is taking his new status seriously. "I know, and I've had this tag of "Trigger" over the years, been the brunt of all the jokes and I've never minded; I've loved it to be honest. But as I've grown up, I like to think I have changed a bit," he said.

"I think the Iran game away was a big thing for me. It was incredible and I think maybe we went out there naïve but came back, well men I suppose really. Now that a few of the older lads have gone, I'm getting to the stage where the younger players are asking me things and I like that.

"But it's wider than that too," he continued. "I have a two-year-old kid and I'm living away from home now because of the move (to Sunderland), so a lot of things have changed for me, a lot of things that make you think really."

Captain Sensible's reign, nevertheless, is likely to be short-lived. The 31-year-old midfielder makes his 50th international appearance this evening and the armband is recognition from McCarthy of the achievement.

When the team takes to the field in Moscow in a couple of weeks, it is likely one of the squad's less colourful characters will be handed the responsibility of leading the team through the forthcoming campaign.

McCarthy insisted yesterday that he is taking this evening's "dry run" for Moscow seriously, though, viewing it as a welcome opportunity to get a slightly changed group of players together for the first time.

"It's not the start of a new era," he remarked "because it's not as if the three or four that have departed have been replaced by completely new players, but it's the beginning of a new campaign with players who have, for the most part, been through a World Cup together.

"It's good that I can get them together for the first time since Korea here now rather than for everybody to be just getting back together ahead of the trip to Moscow when there will be points at stake."

His intention is to give all of the players who have travelled to the Finnish capital a run out at the Olympic Stadium and he may even hand a couple of those who made the journey their second game in just 24 hours.

Before the weekend's seven withdrawals, McCarthy had agreed with his Finnish counterpart, Antti Muurinen, that each could make 10 substitutions this evening. With the option still open to him but only 19 men at his disposal up to yesterday afternoon, the Ireland manager asked Arsenal striker Graham Barrett and Stockport County centre half Jim Goodwin to stick around after last night's under-21 game.

McCarthy has said that Kenny Cunningham will start this evening but with the Birmingham defender, Matt Holland and Nicky Colgan all having sat out training yesterday afternoon due to a variety of minor problems, Gary Doherty may yet feature alongside Gary Breen in central defence. The West Ham defender's fitness is itself something of an unknown quantity, however, as neither he nor Shay Given had arrived in time to join yesterday's session.

Understandably anxious to avoid aggravating even the least of his players' injury problems in games like this, McCarthy could opt to start with not only Doherty in the back four but Lee Carsley and or Colin Healy in midfield while Dean Kiely may well fill in for Given.

Even if, as his confirmation that Damien Duff and Robbie Keane will start up front suggests he might, he ends up preferring to put his strongest side out at the start, however, there will plenty of chopping and changing over the course of the game.

POSSIBLE STARTING LINE-UPS

FINLAND: Niemi (Hearts); Pasanen (Ajax), Hyypia (Liverpool), Tihinen (Anderlecht), Saarinen (Rosenborg); Nurmela (Heerenveen), Tainio (Auxerre), Riihilahti (Crystal Palace), Kilkka (Panathinaikos); Litmanen (Liverpool); Johansson (Charlton Athletic).

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Kiely (Charlton (Ath); Kelly (Leeds Utd), Cunningham (Birmingham City), Breen (West Ham), Harte (Leeds Utd); McAteer (Sunderland), Kinsella (Charlton Ath), Holland (Ipswich Town), Kilbane (Sunderland); Keane (Leeds Utd), Duff (Blackburn Rovers).