Martin O'Neill has said that he has never doubted Roy Keane's "commitment" to his coaching role with the Republic of Ireland national side.

The former Manchester United captain announced that he was stepping down from his assistant manager's position with Aston Villa earlier today after finding it to be too much when combined with his role alongside O'Neill.

The Republic manager told RTE: "We had a brief discussion about the issue at the last international get-together, and I think he was more concerned about committing himself, or having that full commitment both to the Aston Villa club job and to ourselves.

"I've said in the past, and it's worth reiterating, I never had a problem, whatsoever, about his commitment to the Republic of Ireland. Everything that I was hoping he would bring to the table, for want of a better word, I thought he did do.

"Commitment, the enthusiasm and that strong desire that we know he possesses, I think all of those things have been absolutely no problem whatsoever. I think that what happened is that he didn't have summer holiday. He went straight from international duty with us in America straight to the job at Aston Villa. I think eventually those sorts of things maybe catch up with you, either one side of Christmas or the other."

Keane had been Paul Lambert's assistant at Villa Park since July.