- guardian.co.uk, Sunday May 19 2002 01.21 BST
To Niall Quinn, it was about the 35,000 supporters, the scores of team-mates past and present and the hundreds of thousands of pounds raised for charity. For the conspiracy theorists studying every nuance and shift in body language emanating from the Republic of Ireland camp, last Tuesday's testimonial game was more important for the one person not in attendance.
Captain Roy Keane's non-appearance at the Stadium of Light, three days before the team's departure for the World Cup finals, was not the first embarrassing display of absenteeism by the Manchester United midfielder, but it was among the most unsavoury.
'35,000 turned up to pay tribute to Niall Quinn - Roy Keane didn't bother,' trumpeted Dublin's Evening Herald on Wednesday, reflecting the accusatory tone of much of the country.
The Ireland manager, Mick McCarthy, tried to downplay the episode, claiming Keane was in Manchester having treatment on a variety of ailments, a version disputed by United, who confirmed their player was released last Sunday evening.
Unconfirmed reports from Ireland this week suggested Keane had been abroad for a short holiday prior to reporting to Dublin on Wednesday for Thursday's friendly against Nigeria. In any case, pointed out Keane's critics, even if he were having treatment, he should still have appeared at Quinn's event, for charitable reasons as well as those of pre-World Cup camaraderie.
The whole issue left McCarthy irritated and generated an air of controversy and ill-feeling no international manager would welcome on the eve of a major tournament. Yet, sadly, it is only the latest in a number of similar episodes involving Keane.
Most notoriously, in 1996, Keane failed to attend McCarthy's own testimonial against Celtic and a series of summer friendlies, culminating in the US Cup, a competition he later described as a 'Mickey Mouse tournament'. Keane eventually issued an explanation via his solicitor, an act that infuriated McCarthy, who was in the process of not only bedding in a new Ireland team but also trying to avoid a record sixth successive defeat.
McCarthy is understood to have taken a hard-line approach with Keane six years ago, in sharp contrast to the treatment now afforded a magnificent player who, quite patently, carries his country's World Cup hopes squarely on his shoulders and is, therefore, afforded privileges in keeping.
During this World Cup qualifying campaign, Keane turned up a day late on two occasions for games, failing to explain why. During the group stages, he was so angered about players being forced to fly in economy on the FAI's charter planes that he threatened to retire from international football, explaining why first-class on Aer Lingus charters is now known as 'Roy Class' by the Irish party.
Then, having played a key role in the home play-off win over Iran, Keane pulled out of the potentially tricky return in Tehran a few hours before they were due to depart, citing a hip injury.
Throw in one or two more minor incidents - failing to attend an FAI annual awards dinner that honoured him in 1999, the fact he and Dennis Irwin, who explained his absence, were the only United players to miss David Beckham's Irish wedding, his abandoning a contract to write a national newspaper column this season without explanation after only one month - and it becomes clear that Roy Keane is a law unto himself.
'This week and missing the Quinny game has been about one thing,' says a source in the Irish camp. 'It's about who controls the Ireland team.'
Keane, it can be argued, has earned that right with a series of displays over the past two years that mean that no one individual in Japan and Korea will have done more to carry his team to the finals than him.
But, though he may not care to concede it, Keane, who will be 31 by the start of next season, may just need Ireland as much as they need him. After the disappointments of his domestic season and with injuries casting an ever larger shadow over his brilliant career, Keane is aware that this may be his last chance to shine at a major international tournament.
It all promises to make the next month compulsive viewing for the media and Ireland fans, if not necessarily for McCarthy.
