Ahern steps into World Cup row as Ireland takes sides

In some Third World republics the nation's ruler used to pick the national football team, but in Ireland these days he is merely expected to try to hold it together.

With the country still in shock from Thursday's sacking of Roy Keane, the World Cup skipper, Bertie Ahern, the Taoiseach, has offered to mediate between the player and Mick McCarthy, the Republic's angry manager.

Keane was sent packing from the Republic's pre-tournament training camp on the island of Saipan after an initially minor dispute over facilities snowballed into a bitter personal attack on McCarthy at a team meeting.

Yesterday the Taoiseach's office confirmed that he had already contacted both Keane and the Ireland manager through a third party and offered to try to reconcile the two in the national interest.

Keane, a former player of the year in England, is widely regarded as Ireland's only world-class star and is also captain of his English club, Manchester United. Without his formidable presence in midfield many Irish people doubt that their relatively undistinguished team will progress beyond their opening group matches against Cameroon, Germany and Saudi Arabia.

The Irish Prime Minister's involvement reflects not only his own personal love of football – he supports Manchester United – but also the gravity of what many Irish people consider to be a national crisis. Mr Ahern's new mission comes at a time when he also faces the minor distraction of having to form a new coalition government after general elections last week.

"I wouldn't say it's a matter of state," a spokeswoman for Mr Ahern said yesterday, "but there is a lot of public opinion and a lot of e-mails and calls coming into the office with people saying they want the Taoiseach to do something to get Keane back." Some fans, not content with co-opting the premier, have even suggested that George Mitchell, the former US senator who managed to get Ulster's Unionists to sit down with Sinn Fein, be recalled to Ireland.

Keane had, by the age of 31, already established himself at the head of the pantheon of Irish national heroes. Before setting out for the World Cup he was awarded an honorary doctorate of law "for his services to Irish sport" by University College Cork, not far from the rough Mayfield area where he grew up.

Since winning independence from Britain 80 years ago southern Ireland has fought no foreign wars and enjoyed few sporting victories, and its truly popular icons could probably be counted on the fingers of one hand.

The loss of Keane has therefore shocked the public like a sudden amputation, with newspapers, television and radio giving the story blanket round-the-clock coverage of a kind not seen since 11 September.

Already, the countless advertising posters around Dublin featuring the face of Keane convey the same shock of altered recognition as old images of New York city with the World Trade Centre still standing tall.

Some have already been defaced, although public opinion remains sharply divided over who is to blame for a spat that has left Ireland without its best player and down to 22 men.

"I think Keane's stupid," said Paul Campion, a 13-year-old on O'Connell Street, Dublin. "He's very narky. He should relax, take a chill pill. He loses the head over nothing. I think McCarthy was right, but Roy Keane is the best of the team, so when I heard he wasn't going to be playing I went mad."

Alan Brown,15, took the opposite view. "McCarthy has a job to manage the team and if he can't manage one of the world's greatest players what is he for? Keane is a world-class player, and he's the only one we have... We were never going to win it, but we'd a better chance with Keane.''

On busy Grafton Street, a newspaper vender said the story was great for sales. The front page of Dublin's Evening Herald newspaper carried what it claimed was a transcript of Keane's diatribe at McCarthy, a Yorkshire-born former Republic of Ireland defender.

"You were a crap player and you are a crap manager. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country and you're not even Irish you English c***," the paper screamed.