Mick: No way back for Keane

Heartbroken Mick McCarthy will rebuild for the European Championships without Ireland's disgraced captain Roy Keane.

After yesterday's dramatic loss on penalties to Spain, the Republic of Ireland manager will head home from the World Cup finals tomorrow morning with no regrets about anything that has happened in the Far East over the past four weeks.

He will not be sending for Keane, who had a training ground bust-up in Saipan before the World Cup began, when the Irish kick off their Euro 2004 campaign in Moscow next September without the retired Steve Staunton, Niall Quinn and Alan Kelly.

McCarthy, already in discussions with the Football Association of Ireland about a new contract, is adamant that Keane has no future with the Republic as long as long he is in charge of the Irish team.

"There is no way back for Roy. He has said he will never play for Ireland again as long as Mick is manager and he is in for a long wait," revealed a close friend of McCarthy, who refuses to even discuss Keane in the wake of his team's failure to beat Spain in yesterday's Suwon penalty shoot-out.

"That name should not even be mentioned when we are talking about the efforts the 22 players out in here in Japan and Korea over the last month,? said McCarthy. ?We should still be in the World Cup after the way those players have performed and behaved since we arrived in Japan. We have just played Spain off the park and lost, so please celebrate them and their achievement.?