Niall Quinn yesterday lifted the lid on the mental strain of the Roy Keane saga when he admitted the Republic of Ireland squad is "shattered" just three days before they kick off their World Cup odyssey.

The emotional effect of Keanegate was etched across Sunderland striker Quinn's drawn face as he revealed the behind-the-scenes turmoil caused by the former Republic captain's bust-up with coach Mick McCarthy.

Quinn battled in vain to get Keane to return to the Far East and the ramifications of the past week could now scupper Ireland's World Cup campaign.

The Republic squad have been left exhausted by the to-ing and fro-ing since Keane was ordered home for a remarkable four-letter blast at McCarthy last Thursday,

Quinn, who barely slept on Monday night as he waited to learn whether the Manchester United skipper would be jetting back to Japan, said: "I'm drained and shattered. How do you think the younger lads are feeling?

"One of them said to me today: 'I watched the World Cup on television in 1990 and I always wanted to play in the tournament. Is this it?'"

McCarthy hinted that Keane could be allowed to return to the Irish fold if he said sorry for his outburst - a word that was conspicuous by his absence from his TV interview on Monday.

Quinn was confident that he was on the verge of engineering an extraordinary U-turn, only for Keane's failure to apologise to McCarthy to ruin his chances of a shock comeback. The players voted unanimously not to propose Keane's return after learning of his comments of two days ago, and Quinn added: "I rang Michael Kennedy (Keane's lawyer) and discussed with him a way of getting Roy back out.

"There were different stories going around that Roy was ready to apologise and a flight was booked for him. We were getting very excited by that, and then we heard he was going live on TV to apologise.

"I went and walked around, waiting for morning to come, and then I heard Mick had offered an olive branch and I got very excited. But then a full transcript of the interview Roy did came over to Mick and by 10.30 the whole thing had fallen apart.

"I know Roy has had serious goes at me and I don't for one minute think he will ever change his opinion. But he only has to ask the man closest to him whether I am a coward or not.

"I am devastated that Roy Keane is not here.

''But I'll tell you what, we won't go down without a fight, you know that. Mick is my manager and the structure of the Irish team is at the heart of this. He is the boss and that is why we are where we are. I hope to God whatever Mick wants he gets.'