Soccer: Gunners’ skipper has the last word

The familiar keen-eyed stare was there. Only this time, as Roy Keane led out his team to face Arsenal, there was a conspicuous absence of the verbals and toe-to-toe eyeballing.

In contrast to the prelude to the Premiership meeting between Manchester United and Arsenal at Highbury in February, United's captain remained pointedly undisturbed by the presence of the tall Frenchman alongside him.

Having famously lost his rag with Patrick Vieira in north London three months ago, Keane maintained impeccable tunnel vision as the erstwhile heavyweights of the Premiership prepared to slug it out in Cardiff yesterday for the Crackerjack Pencil of English football, the consolation prize better known as the FA Cup. There was even a double exchange of pleasantries with the Arsenal captain, a cursory shake of the hands - first as their teams did the same after the playing of the national anthem, then before the toss of the coin.

In February Keane had taken objection to Vieira advising United's right-back not to try to kick Arsenal off the park. "Come and have a go at me," Keane shouted, his glare threatening to cut Vieira in half.

It took the intervention of Graham Poll to stop either captain having a physical go. They refused to shake hands when the coin was tossed for choice of ends and the ill-feeling lingered long after Keane had led his team to a 4-2 victory. All of which left the prospect of the fuse still being liable to be lit after the pre-match formalities were concluded yesterday. But there was not even a sparkler's worth of combustibility between the principal protagonists. In fact, with Vieira on the left of Arsenal's central midfield trio and Keane in his anchor role, they rarely came into direct contact.

The contest within the contest was just about even until halftime. Keane made a less than assured start, feeding stray passes to Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp and looked like he might not make it to the interval after a mistimed tackle on Cesc Fabregas left him clutching his stomach. He was still hobbling when he vented his frustration with a tackle from behind on Bergkamp. It earned him a yellow card.

Still, Keane is nothing if not a fighter. By halftime he had moved off the ropes and was punching his weight as United started to get on top. At 33, he might not be the midfield dynamo he once was, but he remains a vital cog for United. He drove them forward after the interval, with one attacking thrust down the right outstripping Vieira and teeing up Wayne Rooney for what might have been the opening goal had Fabregas not intervened. He might have scored the winner, too, had he not directed a shot into a forest of Arsenal legs five minutes before the advent of extra-time.

Then there was the vital work at the other end, putting out fires as Arsenal sparked to life late in extra time. The Invincibles of 12 months ago were more like the Vulnerables yesterday. Until penalties, that is. When it came to the shoot-out, it was the Gunners' day. And Vieira's.

A minimal influence on the game since the early stages, it fell to the Arsenal captain to step forward and deliver the trophy-winning shot - immediately after Keane had kept United's hopes alive with his conversion. It was the cruellest of blows for the Old Trafford captain.

Three years ago Keane claimed in his autobiography that the FA Cup had "lost its relevance" for him. Perhaps any romantic notions about the competition got knocked out of him in his Nottingham Forest days. En route to the final back in 1991, he dropped a clanger that required a replay against Crystal Palace. As soon as he stepped off the pitch, Brian Clough floored him with a punch. It could hardly have been as painful as the decisive blow delivered by his arch-rival yesterday.

- INDEPENDENT