Injury concerns grow for Keane
Celtic star Roy Keane has reiterated his threat to hang up his boots at the end of the season.
The former Manchester United captain hinted last week that his long-term hip problems could force him to stop playing a year before his contract expires.
Keane suffered a hamstring injury in Celtic’s 3-0 CIS Insurance Cup final win over Dunfermline, which he thinks is related to the hip.
He said: “As I said, I will look at things in the summer.
“I’m enjoying being here and it is a great honour to play for Celtic, but I will look at it in the summer because I’m just being fair to everyone.
“I wanted to see how things went with injuries but I have picked up another one.
“I want to see how the body is and how the hip is in the summer.
“These things tend to happen more now and I have to listen to the body, but I have not been feeling too bad.
“Because of the hip I am going to get one or two hamstring injuries, which is something of a side effect to having a hip problem.
“Maybe breaking forward is the problem. Things seemed to open up for me and with Neil (Lennon) sitting there, there is more of an opportunity for me to get forward and support the strikers.”
Keane will undergo a scan in the next two days to discover the extent of the injury, which is a concern as he also chases a possible Bank of Scotland Premier League championship medal.
He said: “I just felt a tug in the hamstring but hopefully it’s not too bad. I should find out how serious it is on Tuesday.”
Keane’s thoughts were also with the late Jimmy Johnstone, who he dedicated the Hampden Park victory to.
“It’s a brilliant win for him,” said the Irishman. “It has been sad the last few days since his death, but it was really nice to celebrate his life in this way.
“The funeral and ceremony at the church were emotional so it was really nice we could do this for his family and the fans.”
Keane will also enjoy his first trophy for the Hoops.
He concluded: “It is always nice to pick up a medal and I’ll enjoy it.
“We wanted to win it for ourselves and the fans and it’s also the manager’s first trophy.
“I enjoyed the day and winning because nobody remembers the team who doesn’t win. This is important for the younger players.”
The result never looked in any doubt even before Maciej Zurawski had pounced on a collision between Allan McGregor and Aaron Labonte to become Scotland’s leading scorer this season with 17.
And man of the match Shaun Maloney scored a goal fitting of Johnstone before Dion Dublin hit his first Celtic goal late on.
