'Apologies? I believe it's for others to apologise to me' ? Keane

He has gone away, but in another sense he will not go away. Roy Keane, the recently banished Republic of Ireland captain, remains as compelling a subject of conversation in western Honshu as in the west of Ireland, three full days after being sent into exile.

In his first full interview since returning to Manchester, he sounded like one of the infamous Oasis Gallagher brothers at their most peevish, and made a nonsense of suggestions that any return to the bosom of a forgiving Mick McCarthy might be possible if he apologised. "Never in a million years," was Keane's unequivocal response. "I don't feel an ounce of guilt about my part in what has happened. Apologies? I don't think I should be apologising. If anything, I believe it's for others to apologise to me."

In a previous interview Keane claimed that he had come to regard international football as "a nuisance – I love the 90 minutes but it's the rest of the crap... I just thought I don't need it."

McCarthy made it equally clear that there would be no way back for Keane, describing his attack on him as "vicious, unprecedented and unjust". The Republic's manager added: "I have never had to listen to such foul-mouthed abuse from any footballer or witnessed such an attack from any human being in any walk of life.

"I have had rows with Roy before but never at this level. I did not deserve to be treated like that and I was not going to take it."

Once Brendan Menton, the Football Association of Ireland's general secretary, had spoken to McCarthy at length on Saturday here, the FAI hierarchy accepted that there was no question of a rapprochement. They were left to pursue the remote possibility of being allowed a replacement player, which Fifa, the World Cup organisers, predictably laughed out of court.

"When the full story emerges, public opinion will be very much against Roy Keane," Menton said. "There were 35 people there [at the training camp in Saipan] and only one was unhappy. For whatever reasons, Roy didn't want to be part of it and, if he wasn't going to perform, the team were probably better off without him."

However much their captain's efforts in driving them to World Cup qualification are appreciated, the players seem to agree with that conclusion. One of them, Matt Holland, wrote in yesterday's Independent on Sunday: "Now the saga's over, there is a definite sense of relief at Keane's departure. He had been his usual brooding self since our arrival in Saipan. From the very start he moaned about, well, everything, really, and I feel that he wanted to go home all the time."

Mark Kinsella, who will now partner Holland in central midfield, said yesterday: "Mick's got the backing of the players. We were there and heard what was said. Now we're moving on, because we've got a massive game against Cameroon on Saturday."

Moving on will clearly be the theme of the week. But a figure that has loomed as large as Keane has in Irish football over the past 10 years will not be easy to leave behind.