Martin O’Neill says Robbie Keane’s availability for Ireland’s clash with Scotland on Saturday will be entirely the decision of the player.
Football has been sidelined somewhat this week with the tragic news that the international captain lost both of his cousins, Alan and Stephen Harris, in a dreadful accident in Dublin.
Despite the tragedy, the LA Galaxy player has been training every morning with the team but his boss has admitted that, understandably, ‘he’s not great’.
And both the manager and team mate, John O’Shea, have insisted that the squad will rally behind Keane because, essentially, some things are more important.
“He’s not feeling great,” O’Neill said of his skipper. “He’s quite down at the moment. I’m hoping that he’ll come round and, if he feels he wants to participate in the game tomorrow, that will be entirely his decision.
“I don’t think you could ever question his professionalism. It’s how he’s feeling within himself really, as much as anything else. Obviously, he’s had more bad news this morning, he’s not great.”
John O’Shea, meanwhile, has bellied the fact the football isn’t the be all and end all in a situation like this.
“It’s very sad news,” the defender stated. “I echo the sentiments of the manager, our thoughts are with the family. We’ll look after Robbie, if he needs whatever support, it will be there. I’m sure he’s a very good professional but obviously sometimes football does take a backstep when something like that happens.”
