Roy Keane happy to face Republic of Ireland players he has criticised ahead of Euro 2016
Tuesday 7 June 2016 18:36, UK
Roy Keane insists he is big enough to face up to the Republic of Ireland players he has criticised if he has gone too far with his comments about them.
Martin O'Neill's assistant manager was scathing in his assessment of the team in their 2-1 Euro 2016 warm-up defeat to Belarus in Cork last week.
Winger Aiden McGeady was one of the players singled out by Keane, with O'Neill later admitting he had been "on the strong side" with his views on the Everton player.
Keane says he has no issue with facing up to those he has targeted if he has gone too far.
He said: "I'm not going into what I say and don't say to the players privately. I've spoken to a few of the players, not just Aiden, and I've done that throughout my career.
"I've no problem in speaking to players, staff members, if I feel I've gone overboard. That isn't an issue for me.
"I'm not going into any sort of conversations I would have had with individuals or a group of players. That's private, we move on, we get ready for next week."
The Republic of Ireland start their tournament against Sweden on Monday night and Keane and O'Neill watched them play in person at the weekend.
They were 3-0 winners against Wales in Stockholm and Keane is aware of the threat they pose.
Keane, who has signed a new two-year deal with the FAI along with O'Neill, added: "There were no real surprises, they are a very, very good team, very experienced and they played really well on the day.
"Wales will be disappointed with their performance, but they played a lot of fringe players and [Gareth] Bale didn't start.
"It was physically a tough game and they have one or two individuals who can win a lot of games. Having said that, it's the same for us, we've got good experience in our group.
"It's always good to watch the opposition live, you can't beat it. I travelled over with the manager and we were impressed with them. If you win any international game 3-0, you've done well."
The team fly to their base in Versailles on Wednesday and their biggest injury concern will be over striker Jonathan Walters, who is battling a calf strain.
Captain Robbie Keane, who has been recovering from a calf injury, has been fit enough to take part in training but Robbie Brady missed out after suffering back spasms.
Striker Keane had heavy strapping around his left calf and will go into the tournament having not played any of his side's warm-up games.
Roy Keane said: "I wouldn't be worried about Robbie Brady one bit, it was more precautionary than anything else. He'll be fine. The closer we get to the game, the more Jon will be the biggest worry.
"We play it by ear, I think. It is one of those ones where day-to-day we look at it. But I think his body language is a lot more positive than a few days ago, which is good.
"The medical staff are looking after him and no player likes to miss any sort of training but there has been an improvement.
"Jon is a lot more positive about it and we're probably looking towards more the end of the week [to see if he is fit]."
