Sunderland manager Roy Keane will shake hands with Mick McCarthy tomorrow night after again insisting their feud is over.

The pair will go head-to-head at Molineux for the first time since their infamous pre-2002 World Cup finals bust-up in Saipan as Sunderland travel to McCarthy's Wolves.

Keane and McCarthy claim they have settled their differences, which saw the former Manchester United and Ireland captain sent home from the Republic's squad after an irrevocable split.

But McCarthy offered the 35-year-old an olive branch when he called him to inquire about a prospective loan deal earlier this month, and it was one Keane was happy to take.

Former Republic manager McCarthy said earlier this week he would shake hands with his former captain and, asked if he would do the same, Keane with a grin: "I would have thought so, yes.

"It is all history now. It is all about Sunderland against Wolves now, not the managers.

"We put that to bed a few weeks ago and life goes on. Mick rang about a player and we had chat and it led to one or two other things.

"It is history now, it really is. There is nothing to add to it."

Keane's attempt to play down a rift that once existed is understandable, but will do little to quell the interest in an eagerly-anticipated reunion.

He admitted: "We cannot do anything about that. The media have got their jobs to do. They have got to sell newspapers and create headlines.

"But from watching the players this week, there is no other reason why they should not be focused on the game.

"They have trained well on the back of a decent result last week. We have got some decent lads in the squad and they will just be focussing on the game, and rightly so."

It has been an interesting few months for Keane, who arrived at the Stadium of Light in August admitting his forthright approach to the game had cost him at times.

As he was unveiled, he signalled his intent to bring a greater calmness to the latest phase of his career, and that is something he believes he has done.

He said: "I think I have been fairly calm. Some of the players might disagree.

"I have tried to do that because if you are going to lose your head - there is stuff going on every day that will get you scratching your head, so if you are going to get frustrated, you will age fairly quickly.

"I think I do that enough in 90 minutes on a Saturday and, the rest of the week, I try to stay relatively calm, especially if it is stuff that is out of my control that I cannot really do anything about."  PA