Roy Keane's decision to announce his retirement from international football should have brought closure to one of the most bitter and ignominious episodes in the history of Irish sport.
But last night's revelation that the player's desire to return to the Republic of Ireland side had been overridden by his club, Manchester United, ostensibly for health reasons, brings a squalid end to a row that has almost sundered the Irish soccer public.
The widespread belief that Keane needed to return to the Irish jersey to finally win the public relations battle with former manager Mick McCarthy over the Saipan fiasco may have been a key factor in the player's private commitment last week to Brian Kerr to return to the Republic of Ireland squad.
The fact that this promise has been dishonoured, irrespective of the pressure applied by Manchester United on Keane to quit international football, must convince even some of his most ardent supporters that the player has been weak and disingenuous in the whole affair.
Keane is still a dominant force at Old Trafford and it beggars belief that he could not have convinced his club manager, Alex Ferguson, that playing four or five competitive international games every year would not in any way jeopardise his health.
If Keane was determined to wear an Irish jersey once again, he could have resisted the pressure from his club and made a stand on the issue. It is hard to believe that the club that rates him as its most valuable player would have risked Keane seeking a transfer or issued him with an ultimatum that he was putting in peril his future at Manchester United.
The new Republic of Ireland manager, Brian Kerr, who last night dealt honestly and fairly with the whole affair, deserved better from Keane, both in honouring his pledge and in the timing of the announcement on the eve of Kerr's first match in control of the Republic of Ireland team.
While Kerr will be relieved that the issue is now out of the way, it puts into perspective the difficulties national managers have in securing players for international duty. In the highly commercial world of club football, many managers will privately welcome the news that one of the world's great players bowed to his ultimate paymaster so easily.
For the Republic of Ireland's supporters, last night's news is a harsh reminder that the honour and nobility of playing for one's country can be made so easily subservient to the game at club level.