Mick McCarthy's press conference: Yesterday's dramatic events could not have come sooner for a strained Republic of Ireland boss, writes Emmet Malone

A week ago he may still have been talking about his intention to enjoy these World Cup finals but by last night when he heard the news that Roy Keane had decided against seeking to make up and rejoin his squad Mick McCarthy probably wouldn't have set his bar any higher than getting through the next few weeks with a minimum of discomfort.

For all his troubles of the past week the Ireland continued to look reasonably relaxed yesterday but he is clearly not quite the determinedly chirpy soul who landed in Saipan the weekend before last.

The thorny issue of Keane's exile from his Ireland squad has followed McCarthy around relentlessly since he set foot on Japanese soil, never more so than yesterday when mishaps the chronic mishandling of the media machine left the 43 year-old former Millwall boss looking isolated from both his players and employers before he received the news that the issue may have finally have been taken out his hands by the player's decision to stay at home.

Having been greeted by the sight of a dozen or so journalists waiting outside his hotel for a reaction to Keane's television interview when he got up, McCarthy first raised the suspicions of the media by cancelling his regular lunch-time press conference.

Then there was the astonishing decision to release a two-paragraph statement from the players to the effect that they felt they would be better off without the one Irish player widely accepted to be a world class talent when nobody who had attended the meeting in which it was drafted was available to explain its rather stark contents.

The manager's name was not attached to the single sheet document but he was said by the association's press officer to endorse it, information that seemed, on the face of it, a breath-taking admission that the players had emulated the departed Keane by undermining the authority of McCarthy.

There were then reports of his own attitude towards the idea of the Corkman's much floated return having hardened considerably after he had received a transcript of what was actually said the previous night.

By eight o'clock last night (local time), when he gave a press conference at the team's training ground in Izumo, McCarthy looked a lot like a man who had been dealt a losing hand by fate but whose pride was making him play it.

The first much-needed piece of clarification came early on when he repeated remarks made in the team hotel's car park yesterday morning to the effect that he would discuss any apology that Roy Keane might offer him for the abusive comments he made at a team meeting in Saipan last Thursday with the players and technical staff who had witnessed the original outburst.

He insisted, however, Keane would have to get in touch with him personally if any real progress on the matter was to be made.

"I think that the correct and proper procedure, the protocol for an apology is for one person to pick up the phone and ring the person who is owed the apology," said the Ireland coach. "That certainly hasn't been the case here."

FAI general secretary Brendan Menton, who said that the association continued to unreservedly back McCarthy, endorsed his view at a lively press conference attended by up to 100 members of the media.

But differences of opinion between the two men quickly emerged with Menton anxious to avoid a situation in which McCarthy made things between himself and Keane even worse but the manager seemingly happy to go back over the origins of the current acrimony.

McCarthy, to the obvious discomfort of the association's most senior official, chose to answer detailed questions about the row in Saipan in which, he confirmed, "I was basically told I couldn't manage, I couldn't coach; I was an effing w and an effing c".

He went on to confirm that he had confronted Keane at the start of last week's meeting about "the picking and choosing of games" and while he didn't admit accusing the player of feigning injury he did concede that the second leg of the World Cup play-off tie against Iran was mentioned.

At a meeting with the players before the morning's training session he had, he said, attempted to draw a line under the issue once and for all.

Not, he said, because he felt time had run out for Keane but because "there's a game this Saturday against Cameroon and these other things have not been allowed lie".

The controversy had, he said touched "my life, my family".

It would, the consensus at the top table was, have been laid to rest and the two men allowed to get on with things for the next few weeks if only Keane had said during his appearance on RTÉ on Monday, that he was sorry for the abuse he had heaped on the manager last Thursday.

Clearly the absence of an apology during the programme had come as a major surprise for all sides - FAI officials, players and McCarthy - as each had been assured that there would be the required gesture.

Asked if he was disappointed he replied: "Yes I am, there don't appear to be any winners in this situation. But we will only find out what damage is done during the campaign when, as always, we will be judged on results. The bottom line, though, is that I didn't want any of this to happen.

"It's not of my choosing but there's not a lot I can do about any of it now.

"What I will say is that I don't think there should be negotiations going on to arrange an apology. When I feel the need to apologise I pick up the phone or go and see the person I'm apologising to."

Niall Quinn, as it turned out, of course, was one of the main protagonists in the deal-making that was going on behind the scenes and when asked about comments by the Sunderland striker earlier in the evening to the effect that the players had issued a statement yesterday expressing a preference for Keane not returning to the squad only after the manager had led them to believe that they faced a choice between the pair of them, he looked taken aback and denied giving either an "ultimatum" or even a "recommendation".

"To be honest," he said, "I left it with the players and if the players wanted the situation reversed then I'd go with them. I would back them, absolutely."

The differences between the two positions was later explained away on the basis that McCarthy had, in fact, said that he would walk if any attempt was made to force the 30-year-old Manchester United star upon him without the required apology being extracted.

By then Menton and McCarthy had already discussed, in front of everybody, how best to proceed on one occasion with the manager insisting that "there are some issues that need to be answered". Menton replied that he did not think this was the right time or place and, though he complied, it was clear that McCarthy remained unconvinced.

When Menton became unhappy with the direction in which things were moving for a second time, he moved to end the session less than 12 minutes after it had started.