Ronan McGreevy speaks to Dr Alan Byrne, team doctor of the Republic of Ireland team

Soccer: Football is in the blood of the Irish team doctor Dr Alan Byrne. His father Johnny Byrne was a former Shelbourne manager. Dr Byrne (51) studied medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) with a view to specialising in cardiology. He went to Boston to study cardiology, but returned to Ireland in 1990 to become a GP.

His career in sports medicine began in 1993 by chance when Shelbourne, then a club flush with ambition, qualified for Europe and he became the team doctor while remaining as a GP.

He later went on to be the doctor for the Irish women’s team and then the boy’s under-15 team before becoming the medical director of the FAI and doctor to the senior team in 2003.

That was the year after the debacle of Saipan. No Irish football fan needs reminding how emotive an issue injury can be.

Roy Keane’s decision to return to his club after the first leg of the World Cup play-off against Iran ostensibly with a knee injury resurfaced in that fateful meeting in Saipan where then Irish manager Mick McCarthy accused him of faking injury. The rest is infamy.

Thankfully such incidences are few and far between under Giovanni Trapattoni. There was some controversy when Wigan’s James McCarthy pulled out of the Nations Cup tournament last year with an ankle injury.

As it turned out his injury was legitimate, a fact confirmed by his club where a scan revealed grade one ligament damage in his right ankle.

Celtic’s Anthony Stokes has not been called up since he pulled out of the same tournament complaining of tiredness.

Trapattoni laid down the rule: “Injuries are injuries, but they should visit our doctor. That is the rule.”

For his part Dr Byrne said he cannot recall an incident where he doubted a player’s explanation. He is reluctant to talk about individual players, but happy to expound on his role in general with the players.

He is giving a rare interview because he wants to highlight the disorder Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), a progressive rheumatic disease which affects a lot of young men, but can be treated successfully if diagnosed in time.

He describes the Irish players as "an absolute pleasure to look after. They really do make the effort to come over. They love playing for Ireland. I think it is evidenced by the players who have reached the high level of cap numbers, Steve Staunton, Robbie Keane, Shay Given etc . . . "

Neither does he have a problem with the Premier League clubs. “There is a lot of trust required. My own experience has been a very good one with the clubs and with the club’s medical personnel in particular.

“I have spent a lot of time working and developing relationship with the clubs. Maybe I’m just lucky, but we have been treated very fairly.

“I have always understood that the doctor on the other end of the line has a dilemma in terms of his player’s fitness. I have one too because I want to make sure that we have as many players as possible ready as the manager announces.

“I haven’t experienced any politics in my dealings with the clubs. As a doctor it is best to stick with the medicine.”

Dr Byrne sees himself as the head of a well-resourced team which will ensure the Irish players do not want for appropriate medical attention in Poland next month.

There is a chartered physiotherapist, an osteopath, three masseurs, one of whom works in the Premier League, the team’s own chef and an orthopaedic surgeon, Professor John O’Byrne from the RCSI who attends all Republic of Ireland matches, home and away.

Professor Steve Eustace, the consultant radiologist in the Mater Hospital, is also part of the team. Last year Trapattoni launched the €2.3 million Philips Achieva 3.0T MRI scanner in the Cappagh National Orthopaedic Hospital in Dublin.

It is used all the time by the Irish squad and is twice as powerful as its predecessor. It can image down to the microscopic level which improves screening for injuries such as worn cartilage which can be difficult to diagnose.

Every morning at 8.30am while the squad is together, the medical staff meet to go through a list of injured players and their plans for those players.

A player who is doubtful for a game may go through six assessments in a space of two to three days, but as Dr Byrne points out, there is no substitute to full participation in a training session.

“Trust is a huge issue dealing with football players in terms of them believing in your opinion and valuing your opinion. That is something you have to earn,” he said.

“The experienced players usually know where they are at, but they sometimes need reassurance that they can play, particularly if the games are of a high profile nature with huge importance.”

Dr Byrne’s specialisation is the musculoskeletal conditions which most commonly affect footballers.

He says conditions that are not directly related to injuries sustained playing football are generally minor because they are fit, healthy young men.

Dr Byrne’s skills as a GP were called into action two years ago when Everton defender Shane Duffy damaged his liver during a training ground match while on duty for the Republic of Ireland.

Dr Byrne and his team worked on Duffy for a few minutes before he was taken to the Mater Hospital for emergency surgery. Duffy has made a full recovery.

“We had all our ducks in a row and I think the man above had a hand in it,” Dr Byrne recalls. “At times like that you just concentrate on your job. I don’t remember being panicked at all, it was only three or four days later I realised the enormity of it. There were many people who helped out on the day”.