Keane closes door on return to Japan

Banished captain decides to stay at home 'in the best interests of Irish football' as chaos reigns in Republic's training camp

He gave them a good run for their money. Not until last night were punters who had backed Roy Keane down from 8-1 to 6-4 to rejoin the Republic of Ireland's chaotic World Cup campaign required to tear up their betting slips.

Five days after being banished for his infamous tirade of abuse against the manager Mick McCarthy at a team meeting, the erstwhile Irish captain issued a brief statement reading: "I do not consider that the best interests of Irish football will be served by my returning to the World Cup. The damage has been done."

The extent of that damage may not be fully evident until after Ireland's three Group E matches have run their course in a fortnight's time. There had been a hint of it earlier when the players' eloquent spokesman, Niall Quinn, revealed that he and Steve Staunton, the Republic's two most capped players, had been left "drained and shattered" by the saga.

From 8am on the steps of the team hotel to 8pm at their training camp the previous day, another extraordinary chapter had unfolded for everyone involved - or, in Keane's case, no longer involved. One minute the Irish players who were happy to see their captain sent home last Friday wanted him back; the next a statement said they were better off without him. One minute the manager was offering an olive branch to his only world-class performer; the next he had snapped it off. One minute a line had been drawn under the whole issue; the next, Brendan Menton, the general secretary of the Football Association of Ireland, was abandoning the Fifa congress in Korea to fly back to base.

The only consistent features were a shambolic public relations operation. The day had begun with armed security men at the squad's hotel surprised to find a fleet of taxis disgorging two dozen journalists on their doorstep at 7am. Fortunately, the guards did not shoot, allowing one of the scribes inside to seek reaction to Keane's television interview the previous night, in which he refused to offer an apology for his wild verbal outburst four days earlier, but suggested "maybe there is a way" to effect a reconciliation.

At 8am, McCarthy, on the hotel steps, made clear his dissatisfaction that "Roy's spoken on TV to three million people but there's not been a call to me." Yet he too appeared to inch the door open with the words: "The call needs to come". Inside, Quinn was increasingly confident that it would do. Having backed the decision to send the captain home, the Sunderland striker had been approached by one or two younger players who were having second thoughts, and like them, grew convinced that the Irish people wanted Keane back; Quinn approached Kennedy, who is his adviser as well as Keane's, and became "very excited" at the prospect of McCarthy also having a change of heart.

Once McCarthy had read the full transcript of the interview, however, he and his staff told a team meeting called after breakfast yesterday that there could be no going back. "Mick effectively ended any chance of Roy Keane appearing at the World Cup finals," Quinn said. Asked if McCarthy gave the players a choice of backing Roy Keane or himself, Quinn replied: "You wouldn't be too far away".

Believing that they had no alternative but to close the book, the players went off to a training session that finished with a fiercely contested 10-a-side match. McCarthy refereed it from the centre circle, looking delighted to have put politics aside for two hours, only to find shortly after the session ended that he was being accused of giving in to "player power".

Thanks to yet another PR error, the agreed statement had been released long before any of the staff or players were around to explain the background. It read: "Regrettably, the manner of Roy's behaviour prior to his departure from Saipan, and the comments attributed to him since, have left the staff and players in no doubts that the interests of the squad are best served without Roy's presence."

Quinn later explained the chain of events, adding: "Ultimately, Roy is at fault. But I'm devastated that he is not here. I can't understand why he won't apologise. If he did, I would vote for him to return and I would canvass for it."

Menton, back from Korea, faced the fourth media gathering of the day at 8.15pm, together with McCarthy, but the pair soon disagreed over what should be discussed. The manager opened the door again by saying "if there is an apology I will discuss it with the staff and the players who were in that room [in Saipan] and who witnessed me being told [by Keane] that I couldn't manage."

He added: "There are still some issues to be answered", but Menton interjected: "This is not the time."