Soccer: For the second time in a month or so Roy Keane has cleared the first hurdle required of a footballer intent on an international comeback - he made it to the Irish team hotel late yesterday afternoon after another day on his club's treatment table at Carrington. Emmet Malone reports.Soccer Correspondent

Whether the Manchester United midfielder will go one better than in the build-up to the Poland game, however, and negotiate the remaining hurdle by making it onto the pitch at Lansdowne Road tomorrow night remained very much in doubt last night.

Ireland manager Brian Kerr admitted as much yesterday when he said the player's progress would be monitored for as long as possible before deciding what part he might play.

"He took a severe knock on Saturday (in the FA Cup final against Millwall)," he said. "It was sore yesterday, it's improved a bit today. But whether it's improved enough for him to be involved on Thursday remains to be seen."

Kerr made no secret of his desire to see the former skipper return to action but insisted it was not "a major, major issue" that he ends his two-year exile now rather than in August when Croatia visit Dublin.

Kerr's difficulty, however, is that the date for that Croatia game is sandwiched between the two midweek matches United must play in attempting to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League. In those circumstances only the most incorrigible optimist would buy a match ticket on the basis of wanting to see the Corkman do his thing in an Ireland jersey again.

If Kerr wishes to avoid the charge, then, that Keane is once again breezing in for the competitive games while the squad's lesser lights fill in for him on the friendly dates, he must get him out on the pitch tomorrow night, even if only briefly. This, however, went largely unacknowledged yesterday.

"I think it's important," Kerr did admit. "It would be nice, I think, for him. Better that than coming straight back into the squad for a competitive game. I think when it comes to the qualifiers, though, what's going to be seen as important is that we get our strongest side out and we get a good start to the campaign."

There was mixed news for Kerr on the broader injury front with John O'Shea and Liam Miller both expected to be fit for the Romania game but Jason McAteer looking increasingly unlikely to be involved with any of Ireland's four outings over the coming couple of weeks.

O'Shea, who picked up an ankle injury in the FA Cup final, skipped training yesterday but it is hoped he will take part this morning, while Miller - who, Kerr again suggested, may need an operation to sort out the groin problem that affected him through so much of the season just finished - should feature tomorrow, after which his fitness will be reviewed.

However, McAteer will certainly not join the squad before the start of next week and even that, Kerr conceded, looks fairly doubtful as the player continues to rest a groin strain at Sunderland. In the meantime, the call-up of Nottingham Forest defender John Thompson means there are still 26 players in the squad ahead of the Romania match.

Kerr said he will field as strong a team as possible and stick with a 4-4-2 formation tomorrow before making changes to the personnel and, possibly, the tactics for the meetings with Nigeria and Jamaica in London.

"By the time we get to the last match we'll be looking to put out the strongest side we still can again. That will be a tough game against a very strong side in front of what should be a buoyant crowd.

"It will be good preparation for the away games in the next campaign - the trips to Israel, Cyprus, Switzerland and particularly France. It will be a good experience for the players who are involved. There will be real value in it . . . as I thought there was in the Poland game."

It's not clear that all the senior players shared his view on the trip to Bydgoszcz, but while several missed that game with somewhat questionable injuries, Shay Given again displayed the commitment and form in Poland that have, as his established rivals for the goalkeeper's jersey departed, made him an increasingly vital member of the Irish set-up.

Given's disappointment at Ireland's failure to make Euro 2004 was compounded recently when Newcastle missed out on next season's Champions League but the 28-year-old denied yesterday that another disappointing season at St James's Park had left him feeling in any way restless.

"I'd like to win some (medals) for sure. Hopefully, I have another nine or 10 years left at the top and I'd hate to look back on my career and feel that I didn't win anything but I'm very happy at Newcastle.

"Not making the Champions League was a huge disappointment. It would have been good to make that or to have gone on and won the UEFA Cup but you have to remember that we finished third in the league last season with pretty much the same group. I mean with the players we have we should be challenging for honours and I think we are capable of doing that next season."