Irish rely on group therapy to move forward

Two months after the Republic of Ireland's heroic failure to beat Spain in a World Cup second-round tie, the show hits the road again this week, with the smelly stuff still hitting the fan – and the fans.

Roy Keane's autobiography has propelled him back into the headlines, and publication of Mick McCarthy's World Cup diary next month will keep the pair of them there long after a critical opening European Championship fixture away to Russia on 7 September, for which Wednesday's friendly in Finland is a dress rehearsal.

Then there is the little matter of the Football Association of Ireland's independent inquiry into the falling out between manager and captain, which might well conclude that it would have been better at this stage if both parties had made discretion the better part of royalties and maintained a respectful silence.

The players assembling in Ireland tonight would do well to follow suit, though they are well aware that the issue will not go away for some time yet. As Kenny Cunningham, the personable Dubliner who has just moved from Wimbledon to Birmingham City, put it: "My family and friends have said it's dominating the papers at home. I understand that and I'm sure it'll be a big topic of conversation. Roy's such a strong personality and a wonderful player, the story's going to stay around. But I think the best thing is just to side-step it. It's a situation between Roy and the manager and hopefully it'll be resolved to some extent over the near future."

The latter wish is made without a great deal of conviction. Anyone in the room – as Cunningham was – when Keane made his infamous outburst at the pre-World Cup training camp in Saipan must know how difficult any reconciliation would be while McCarthy is still manager – a position he has every intention of retaining long enough for the Irish to have achieved at least as much at the 2004 finals in Portugal as they did in Japan and Korea.

That has to be the ambition now that Ireland have finally broken their run of play-off defeats and acquitted themselves so well on a return to the big stage. To realise it, they must come through a group that recent success has enabled them to go into as top seeds, ahead of Russia, Switzerland, Georgia, and Albania. "We've had a taste of the World Cup experience and we want to repeat it in Portugal," Cunningham said. "It's a little different this time being favourites in the group so it'll be interesting to see how we cope with that."

Although a World Cup is often followed by changes within a squad – often occasioned by a change of coach – that is hardly the case with the Irish. Niall Quinn's departure had long been signposted and younger men like Clinton Morrison and Millwall's Richard Sadlier have been tried in his place; similarly, it is no surprise that Steve Staunton should be bowing out after 102 internationals.

That should mean one less contender for Cunningham's position, and even give him a chance of wearing the captain's armband again, but he is not counting chickens or caps: "I have a fight just to claim a place. We've a number of talented young central defenders like Andy O'Brien, Gary Breen, Richard Dunne and John O'Shea, who'll all be playing at the highest level with their clubs, so I need a good start to the season."

That was a factor in his decision to bail out of Wimbledon, at the same time as so many of their supporters, and move back to the Premiership with Birmingham, for whom he is due to make a debut at Arsenal this afternoon. If international appearances over the next 15 months are in the unaccustomed role of top dog, he acknowledges that turning out in the blue of Birmingham will feel more like an underdog again.

"We're not favourites to win anything. But although I know it's an old cliché, finishing fourth from bottom will be a success. The fans are realistic enough to know that. There's potential at the football club to get bigger but it'll need us to maintain our status for the next couple of years for that to develop."

After Seoul and Suwon, Selhurst Park in front of 600-odd "home" fans would certainly have been a dispiriting place to start the new season. A packed Highbury is a more fitting reward for an Irish loyalist who will not forget the events of the summer of 2002: "Roy's exit wasn't a pleasant experience and there really was a dark cloud over the squad. But as players you get on with it and I think we dealt with it as best we could. It was important to realise we were doing it for the country as a whole. And when we flew back and saw the smiles on the faces of 100,000 people in Phoenix Park, it put it all into perspective."