“Absolutely not,” said the Ireland manager.

“If he’s fit to play and come with us, he’ll be there. I assume he’s apologised for himself and I think he’s spoken to Roy as well.

I have no problem with that. It will only be age and ability which prevents him coming to the next squads. But the answer is no.

However, the manager was clearly not impressed that Ward had given his private account in such a way that a recording was ultimately able to enter the public domain.

“Do I have sympathy or empathy for a 33-year-old who has known about social media for a lengthy time and says he’s just telling it to a crowd of mates? Today… probably not. Tomorrow… probably not also.

He has been betrayed by some of his friends, who he has known for a long, long time. That will be a disappointment for him.

Ward’s fellow international David Meyler also suggested that the Dubliner had been let down by the people who leaked the WhatsApp audio message.

“Look, it’s very difficult because he has trusted someone with something so it’s obviously disappointing that it has got out there,” Meyler said.

Of the row at the centre of the controversy, the Corkman went on: “I was training at the time. I don’t know what was said or happened. I wasn’t there and I can’t speak on behalf of Stephen, I can’t speak on behalf of Harry or Jon.

I don’t know, you hear different things. I imagine all of ye lads have heard four or five different versions but no one knows really what happened.

Ward, who misses out on tonight’s game in Poland through injury, was also out injured when the storm blew up in the Irish camp in the early summer.

It was a point emphasised by Martin O’Neill yesterday when he said that Ward’s version of what happened was not first-hand and did not tally with the one given to him by Roy Keane.

According to Ward’s account, the row began when Keane challenged Walters and Arter about sitting out training with injury issues. Walters responded, he says, and the situation escalated.

“Apparently they were squaring up to each other and having it off and had to be pulled off each other,” says Ward. “All the lads were grabbing Jonny away from him, Jonny was going to kill him.”

A few days later, after the squad flew to Paris to play their friendly with France, Ward recounts that Walters texted Keane inviting him to have a clear the air talk because the situation was causing “tension in the squad”. But he says that Keane declined.

With the squad back in Dublin ahead of the friendly against the USA, Ward alleges that Keane launched a fresh verbal attack on Arter when he came upon him in the treatment room.

“Harry was just going, ‘Roy, I’m not speaking to you like this, you know, I’m not listening to you, you’re not the manager so you can’t say anything to me’. Apparently Roy was just going mad getting, like, fucking worse and worse.

“Harry just got up off the treatment bed and walked back to his room and as he was walking back to his room Roy was just shouting down the corridor... it didn’t come to blows but just basically Roy losing his head.”