All over bar the shouting, of which there will be plenty. The international soccer career of Roy Keane came to an end yesterday evening amidst the sort of controversy which surrounded most of it.
Keane called the new Irish manager Brian Kerr on Monday night to tell him that despite earlier enthusiasm for the idea of rejoining the Irish squad, he would regrettably have to announce his retirement from the highest level of football.
It was clear to Kerr and to anyone who knows Keane that enormous pressure had been exerted on the player by his employers at Old Trafford to draw a line under the whole business and to concentrate his energies purely on what he is paid to do, playing for Manchester United.
Theories as to how that pressure came were rife last night. Keane's statement spoke of medical advice received just last Friday.
The example of the former English striker Alan Shearer was apparently held up, too. By abandoning the international scene, Shearer has prolonged his career within the club game.
Whatever reasoning was used, it worked as sweetly as a gun held to the head of Triggs, Keane's pet dog. The player won't be back and his departure has been messy.
"It has always been my desire to play again for Ireland," said Keane in his brief statement released to the media at tea-time yesterday.
He continued, however: "The unequivocal advice given to me by my doctors was that I should not return. In the light of such advice I regret that I am compelled to confirm my retirement from international football." The statement was short and dignified.
In Glasgow, where the Irish team are preparing for a friendly game with Scotland tonight, it was felt that its timing at least gave Brian Kerr the opportunity to confront the issue with his remaining players.
Kerr was not so inclined to cast a positive light on the matter. He spoke of having secured an unequivocal commitment from Keane not just to return to the Irish squad but to come to Scotland this week and begin the process of reintegration.
He spoke of his disappointment not just that the player had been prevailed upon to change his mind, but that an agreement he had made with Manchester United as regards the timing of the release of the news was broken yesterday.
Kerr now faces into his first match as Irish manager with a huge media storm breaking over him. He can only hope that interest in the matter will have abated before his team resumes competitive duty at the end of next month.
As for Keane, 31 years old and strangely unfulfilled, despite his footballing excellence and astonishing wealth, he never appeared more ill at ease than when dealing with the world of Irish soccer.
Yesterday's bow was the final act of a tumultuous international career.