Kenny Cunningham told The Football Show about the 'delicate' situation of being Ireland captain after Roy Keane's return to the squad.

Cunningham said that being awarded the armband was the 'proudest moment of his career', but was soon confronted with the possibility of Keane's return to the setup under Brian Kerr.

"I won't betray any confidences about it, I had conversations with Brian about it and he was very active behind the scenes in Roy back into the squad - that took a little bit of time.

"I appreciated Brian taking me into his confidence, it wasn't my business - it was a delicate situation with Roy Keane coming back into the squad.

"I did have a conversation with Brian about it and what I did say was 'Look, Brian, there is no issue with me if Roy comes back and is captain of the team. I have no problem with that whatsoever.'

"Ego never came into it, I was immensely proud to lead the team. The way that I interacted with the players around the squad, it wouldn't matter if I had the armband or not."

But that is to say that this was a situation that required deft management and an approach that took into account harmony in the squad.

"To be perfectly honest, the only thing that was in the back of my mind with Roy coming back as captain was how it would be viewed by the rest of the players.

"I think, generally speaking, the players were happy for Roy to come back, for obvious reasons. But to come back and immediately to come back as captain having been out of the team - and in the circumstances that he left the squad [...] I would be very surprised if Brian didn't give a little bit of thought to the perception of the players.

"It was not Roy coming back, but back as captain, and how that would be perceived among a couple of the players. That is only me speculating."

Kenny on Roy Keane return

Cunningham says that he was never going to 'kick up a fuss' about Keane's return as captain, but certainly remembers there being a somewhat odd atmosphere after his comeback.

"Maybe there was subconsciously a little bit of that," Cunningham says of any uneasiness.

"You know Roy's presence around the place anyway, he could be great around the place - he has a great sense of humour, very witty and around the dinner table the lads would love his company.

"But there would be times where that wouldn't be the case, where he wouldn't be so forthcoming and there would be a bit of a dark cloud over his head. That is just the way it was.

"At that time, when you are 30-odd years of age, you can kind of deal with those things," says Cunningham of his own experiences of the former captain coming back into the squad.

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