Roy Keane re-emerges as contender for Ireland job

Roy Keane has re-emerged as a contender for the Republic of Ireland job after talks with the FAI.

On Thursday, media reports revealed the former Manchester United captain had met with the FAI for talks on three separate occasions.

The FAI's search for a successor to Stephen Kenny, with long-standing favourite Lee Carsley ruling himself out of the running recently.

Keane's former United teammate John O'Shea was named as interim manager, and did a decent job in the recent friendlies. Ireland drew 0-0 with Belgium, and created the best chances including a missed Evan Ferguson penalty, and fell to a narrow 1-0 loss to Switzerland.

O'Shea declared his interest in becoming Ireland manager on a permanent basis, but this is thought to be unlikely at the moment.

Keane, 52, has now emerged as a contender for the role, along with the likes of Gus Poyet and Willy Sagnol.

While it had a sour ending, Keane's spell as Ireland assistant manager under Martin O'Neill was generally considered a success.

The pair led Ireland to Euro 2016 qualification, where they were knocked out 2-1 in the last-16 by hosts France after going ahead early on through a Robbie Brady penalty.

Brady also scored in a famous 1-0 victory over Italy in the group stages.

Keane has managed Sunderland and Ipswich Town, while he was also assistant to O'Neill at Nottingham Forest and Paul Lambert at Aston Villa.

Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, which he co-hosts, in January, Keane revealed he would be interested in a return to management with the Ireland job.

When asked about a potential managerial return, Keane said: "I think so, but it has got to be the right challenge. The right club... the right contract... can you bring your staff? I discuss this all the