Robbie Keane will play no part when the Republic of Ireland host England at the Aviva in a fortnight’s time.
Martin O’Neill confirmed that he had received a message from Keane’s club manager Bruce Arena in which the LA Galaxy boss asked O’Neill to excuse his skipper from duty for that fixture.
Keane had been out of action for the past two months due to a groin injury and made his return last night in a 1-0 victory over Houston Dynamo but LA Galaxy have a game scheduled for the same day as the Ireland-England clash.
“I got an email from the coach to say that he would like him to stay on and have another game and miss the England game and I kind of understand that, particularly if we’re going to change things during the course of the match,” O’Neill said.
“Maybe it’s better now that he gets 90 minutes so I’ll probably give that consideration but I think that would be the best thing for him. In fairness to Bruce, he put in (the request) a few weeks beforehand and I haven’t a problem with it.”
The Derry man did claimed to be confident, though, that Keane would be available for selection for Ireland’s crunch Euro 2016 qualifier against Scotland on 13 June.
O’Neill was speaking at a fundraising game for former Derry City forward Mark Farren who requires life-saving brain tumour treatment and will travel to Mexico next week for surgery. We wish the Candystripes legend all the best in his treatment.
