Roy Keane jokes he 'wanted to kill' Ireland players after defeat

Roy Keane has joked he "wanted to kill a few" Republic of Ireland players following their 2-1 home defeat to Belarus on Tuesday night.

In their final warm-up game before Euro 2016, the Irish were beaten 2-1 at Turners Cross in Cork as a brilliant goal from Mikhail Gordeychuk and another from Maksim Volodko saw them slip to defeat.

While Keane's comments about the players were made with tongue firmly in cheek, Martin O'Neill's assistant manager made no secret of his anger at the performance.

Keane also expressed particular concern about the need for some players to have time off from training with minor injuries, something he feels more members of the Irish squad need to accept as "part of the game".

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"I wanted to kill a few of them last night but I've moved on from that," he said. "I'm pretty sure we will have a different starting 11 against Sweden.

"We've lads to come in and that's the challenge we face. People have talked about not playing much football or players carrying knocks; I'm worried if players aren't carrying knocks.

"You're supposed to get knocks because you're supposed to be tackling people, you're supposed to be hitting people at pace.

"That's part of the game. It's not chess we're playing. After you get a knock, you don't need to go for a scan or get painkillers or have two days recovery where you sit in the pool for an hour and a half.

"It's a man's game we're playing, believe it or not."

Keane also picked out Everton winger Aiden McGeady for criticism, adding: "I think he needed to play better than he did last night to force his way into the starting 11.

"Aiden has had some good moments for Ireland, going back to the start of the group, so generally speaking we are not over-reacting to last night. "

"The players who have made it, they have all played their part, not necessarily in the starting 11, but good squad members, good lads around the hotel, but if you are on about my reaction to Aiden's performance, then I think he can do a lot better. Maybe that's just the story of Aiden's career.