Roy Keane points the finger at Given and McShane
Shay Given and Paul McShane were, according to Roy Keane, culpable for William Gallas's goal
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ROY KEANE believes that Giovanni Trapattoni should blame Shay Given and Paul McShane for Ireland's World Cup exit rather than Thierry Henry or the officials who missed the French captain's handball.
The Ipswich manager happily waded into the postmortem on the controversial play-off yesterday, but instead tried to shift the focus onto his former team-mate Given and substitute McShane, who Keane signed in a £2.5m deal when he was manager of Sunderland.
McShane allowed Henry out of his clutches in the penalty area while Given advanced but appeared to stop after the French star clearly handballed it twice. The keeper was therefore unable to prevent the poked pass to William Gallas. However, Keane was completely unsympathetic.
"I'd be more annoyed with my defenders and my goalkeeper than Thierry Henry," he said. "How can you leave a ball bounce in the six-yard box? How can you let Thierry Henry get goalside of you? If the ball bounces into the six-yard box, I'd be saying, 'Where the hell is my goalkeeper?'
"If that was my team I'd go into the dressing-room and I wouldn't even mention the handball. I'd just say, 'Why didn't someone put their head on it? Where's my goalkeeper?' That's what I'd be asking."
Keane, of course, is experienced at walking into dressing-rooms to launch an inquiry into poor defending. His Ipswich side sit 23rd in the Championship right now, with one win from 16 games and 28 goals conceded to put them there.
Nevertheless, he rarely misses an opportunity to upset the FAI or his former international team-mates so he was never going to shirk any questions, even if Ipswich fans would prefer their high-profile boss to be attracting publicity for positive results as opposed to settling old scores.
His analysis that the Ireland players have only themselves to blame for not wrapping up the game in normal time is shared in many quarters, although those shouts have been drowned out by the furore surrounding the moment that will follow Henry for some time.
However, it's significant that Keane should take fire at Given, with the antipathy between the pair thinly concealed. They were the driving force in Ireland's World Cup campaign in 2002, but they are different characters. Unlike Keane, the Donegal man was viewed as someone who would turn up for his country regardless of the occasion.
In a bizarre attack, Keane chose to criticise Given publicly two years ago, claiming that his attitude was depriving other keepers of a game.
"I think players have agendas, certain players come over all the time no matter what," he said. "Maybe they want to get 50 caps or 100 caps and a pat on the back for it. Shay is one of those ones. He wants to get 200 caps."
Last month, when he reached the halfway point in the double century, Given described that outburst from the Cork man as "comical". Needless to say, he's one of those players that Keane hasn't forgiven for standing behind Mick McCarthy during the Saipan dispute in 2002.
Ah yes, Saipan. Turns out we made it through 505 words before the island reared its ugly, beautiful head. Keane sees no irony in encouraging the Irish stars to "get over" Wednesday night before listing off grievances arising from that stormy summer. While his pain lingers, nobody else is allowed to broadcast theirs.
Aggrieved
His comments about Delaney have been greeted gleefully in League of Ireland circles, with several clubs aggrieved by the FAI's stewardship during repeated financial crises more than a tad bemused by this week's pleas emanating from Abbotstown.
Naturally, there's personal baggage between the FAI CEO and Keane. Delaney was an avid supporter of McCarthy and angered Keane by not even calling him when war broke out in Asia -- although the Waterford man was the Honorary Treasurer of the association at that time rather than the CEO.
More recently, Keane was prepared to speak up on behalf of kitman John Fallon in an Employment Appeals Tribunal when the affable Dubliner fought his dismissal by the FAI. Fallon, who keeps an eye on the League of Ireland scene for Keane, eventually settled his differences out of court with the association
The FAI, and Delaney in particular, are furious at the manner in which every anti-FAI outburst from his Royness commands huge interest, especially when it is picked up in the UK.
"He seems to be very good now at deflecting from his own issues when he should get on with doing his own job," said Delaney in early 2008. Keane is box office though, and cannot resist delving into matters that relate to old foes.
"I wouldn't take any notice of that man (Delaney)," was yesterday's curt dismissal.
McShane wouldn't be considered an old foe however. The Wicklow native impressed Keane when he was coming through the ranks at Manchester United and those memories and a decent spell at West Brom instigated that move to the Stadium of Light in the summer of 2007.
He was linked with a summer move to Ipswich as well but ended up staying in the Premier League with Hull.
The 23-year-old, a replacement for the injured John O'Shea in Paris, has escaped the flak for his contribution to the infamous goal.
"He should have cleared it," raged Keane.
Trapattoni has spent so much time talking about the Henry row that he has yet to address the defending but, privately, you wonder if he is revising his opinion of McShane.
Maybe some good will emerge from this debacle.
There will be no revision from Keane when it comes to the FAI, though. His faltering club career hardly makes him a suitable candidate anyway, but his acolytes would love their leader to one day return and manage his country.
It was already common knowledge that considerable personnel change at the top of the FAI would be required before that might happen.
The timing of his latest state of the nation confirms that a certain generation of players will have to move on as well.
- daniel mcdonnell
Irish Independent
