The Republic Of Ireland's Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane will be out of action for at least six weeks because of a hamstring problem.The 34 year old was injured while playing in the domestic 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Saturday.

Having only recently returned to the fold, Keane's loss will be enormous to the ROI's manager Brian Kerr. The injury will rule Keane out of both of the group 4 qualification matches against Cyprus and Switzerland. One consolation for Kerr is the return to form and the return to the English Premiership of Striker David Connolly.

The former West Ham Utd hit man has recently joined newly promoted Wigan. Ironically, with the Republic now in a desperate position with regard to their World Cup qualifying hopes, Connolly finds himself as their most in form forward with five goals in six domestic matches this season, he made the last of his International appearances in the 2-0 European Championship qualifying defeat to Switzerland in October 2003.

Kerr goes into the 8th of October must win game against Cyprus in Nicosia without the suspended Clinton Morrison, while all time leading scorer Robbie Keane is without a goal this season and continues to struggle with injury as well.Sunderland's Stephen Elliott is an emerging talent, but the 21-year-old has not found the net since April, a run of eight matches.

From a position of such strength, The Irish now find themselves struggling in their group, they will need to be at their very best to progress to the finals, and how they might rue the games against Israel and France that they could easily have won.

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