It is now increasingly likely that Mick McCarthy will have to replace his captain, Roy Keane, for the Republic of Ireland's European Championship meeting with Macedonia at Skopje on October 9th.

It follows the latest report of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson on the knee injury which Keane aggravated in the 3-0 win over Sturm Graz in their European Champions League game last Wednesday.

"After visiting a specialist on Friday, Roy was told that part of the reason for the on-going pain in his knee was that he rushed his comeback," said Ferguson.

"He has now been advised to rest up for the next two or three weeks to see if the problem will clear. If it doesn't, he may have to go into hospital for an operation on his knee.

"It's a bad blow for the club at a time when we're already without Ryan Giggs. It means that in addition to Wednesday's game against Marseille, Roy will also miss next Saturday's Premiership meeting with Chelsea."

McCarthy, who watched Mark Kennedy in action for Manchester City against Ipswich yesterday, said that while he hadn't yet spoken to Keane about the injury, he feared the worst.

"At this point, I only know what I've heard on the grapevine but it's not looking too good for Roy for Macedonia," he said. "When I spoke with him on Thursday, he informed me that he was keeping an open mind on the problem until he saw a specialist but it would seem that the diagnosis is not too good."

"Unless, the player is fully fit he will not be allowed to come and join us and I go along with that. Important as the game is to us, I would never jeopardise a lad's career by expecting him to play with an injury.

"As I say, I'm still waiting to get in contact with Roy but if he's out, he's out. While I don't for a minute question his value to the team, we'll just have to get on with the job of winning the game in his absence."