ROY KEANE'S EXPULSION: On and on it rumbles and, judging by the tone of interviews with both protagonists in the Ireland on Sunday yesterday, there's as much chance of a reconciliation between Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy this week as there is of Costa Rica winning the 2002 World Cup.

"There is absolutely no chance of that happening, never in a million years," said Keane, when asked if there was any hope of him returning to the World Cup squad. "I won't be going back, no matter who gets involved in the mediation, even if it's the Man upstairs . . . I couldn't play with certain players any more. I am finished. The only way I would go back now is if Mick left while certain other players retired."

Keane insisted the reason he was speaking out, to journalist Peter Fitton, was because he wanted people to know his side of the story and the full facts of the ill-fated team meeting on Thursday. He claimed his attack on McCarthy was provoked by the manager accusing him, in front of the entire squad and backroom staff, of "faking injury" and of "letting down the country" and denied calling McCarthy an "English c***" or ever doubting his "Irishness".

"I hope the people of Ireland understand my position," he said, "I'm giving this explanation for them. They deserve to know the truth. I am not asking for forgiveness, but I just want them to understand my side of the story. I know I have a temper, but I deal with life in real terms, I haven't got any halo. I only wished I had. But I do things for what I believe are the right reasons."

Keane claimed that he "exploded" at the meeting after McCarthy accused him of "faking injury to miss squads and also of letting down the country". "It was a reference to my missing the final qualifier against Iran in Tehran," he said. "He knew what the truth of that was because he had spoken to Alex Ferguson about it. He agreed that my knee problem had to be considered and accepted that.

"Now, suddenly, the accusations were being repeated. And it was being done in front of all the players, not in private. In the privacy of a room with Mick I could have handled it, discussed it. But I exploded. It wasn't right to treat me that way.

"Mick was definitely putting a challenge down to me. Without a doubt it was all set up for me to react. I was being provoked and I swear on my children's life that it was being done deliberately.

"I did call Mick a wanker and, no, I don't feel I should apologise for that now. When your loyalty to your country is questioned and faking injury is mentioned then I think you have a right to speak out. That's what happened with me. I had to defend my position.

"I said to Mick that I didn't respect him as a player, as a manager, or as a person. To be fair I used the expletive against him as well, I'm no angel, but these things hurt me to be accused in such a way. The language was strong, but that's always the case in football, it's not a debating society.

"Mick also showed the players a copy of The Irish Times and an interview I had done. He said I was turning against the players. It just wasn't true. But he said that if I couldn't respect him then I shouldn't play for him and that's when I walked out.

"Sure, I called Mick a wanker, I'm not sorry about that, but I didn't refer to him being an Englishman, not an Irishman, in any way. I was just trying to defend myself from very serious and unfair allegations.

"There's no going back now. I don't feel an ounce of guilt about my part in what has happened. I will return to Ireland next week and walk down the main street in Cork with my head held high. I have nothing to be ashamed of. I don't think I should be apologising . . . I have huge pride in the Irish nation and that has not altered. But I will never be accused of faking injury and letting down my country, particularly when the accusations are made in front of the rest of the players. That's why I reacted like I did and I don't feel sorry about any aspect of it."

While revealing that he received no support from anyone present at the team meeting Keane claimed that, privately, two players told him they backed everything he had said but would not speak out because they did not want to risk their chances of playing in the World Cup.

"When I left that room on Thursday night, no one except me knows how I felt. There are 20 players in there and 10 staff and not one of them stood up and said: 'Hey, come on'. That's when you know your friends. Let's just say it did not feel good."

But "following the meeting several players came to see me - two of them said they had completely agreed with what I'd said but didn't want to place themselves in jeopardy, they wanted to play in the World Cup . . . I appreciated their honesty and I also appreciated their position.

"Some people are sheep and some are wolves. There are a lot of sheep over there and probably I am a wolf - that's my honest assessment," he added.

While accepting that "the manager . . . is the man who should be in charge" Keane insisted that "as the captain I believe I am entitled to express my opinion. I do have a conscience and I try to do what's right. I'm not always shouting my mouth off, as some would have you believe. Look, I do lose my temper. And I did lose it in that meeting on Thursday night, but I feel I did the right thing. I had my honour to defend."

Meanwhile, in the same newspaper, Mick McCarthy - who had vowed not to discuss Roy Keane again, but made an exception for the column he is paid to write - defended his position and gave his account of Thursday's team meeting.

"Roy was asked to explain why he felt we did not provide him with the best World Cup preparation possible.

"That is all I did . . . I asked him to tell me and the Irish squad what was causing him to run to the press like a scalded cat just hours after I had accepted his decision to renege on his international retirement.

"He treated me with honesty in his reply. Sadly, there was no dignity and precious little respect in his choice of language . . . I have never had to listen to such foul-mouthed abuse from any footballer in any dressing-room or any meeting room. I have never witnessed such an attack from any human being in any walk of life.

"I have had rows with Roy before but never at this level. It was vicious, it was unprecedented and it was unjust. I did not deserve it. I did not deserve to be treated like that by any human being. I was not going to take it.

"When Roy had finished his rant I threw him out of the squad . . . I was right, no matter what some people back in Dublin, people who were nowhere near that hotel room, have to say on the subject.

"Roy left me with no choice but to sack him. The honesty he displayed in that hotel dining-room was obnoxious, degrading to me and downright rude.

"I look at him after he waded in with one expletive after another, and I asked myself if this was my captain, if this was one of my players. Was this a man who could serve Ireland as a role model for our kids, for the youngsters who dream of following him on to the World Cup stage?

"The answer to all of that, judging by his behaviour in front of the other players and the backroom team in Saipan, is no."

McCarthy made no reference in his article to Keane's allegation that he accused his captain of feigning injury to miss Republic of Ireland matches but insisted that the player, and nobody else, was responsible for his departure from the World Cup squad.

"Roy Keane is history now. He will never again get the chance to talk to me like that again. It was intolerable and it is over.

"We will move on, we will do Ireland proud in Japan these two weeks, without the best player we have. That was his doing and no one else's.

"Roy Keane drove us to the World Cup finals and drove himself out. You should all know that. And you should all ask yourself what sort of role model is he now."