Roy Keane spectacularly re-emerges as contender for Ireland job ...

ROY KEANE is back in the frame to be the next Republic of Ireland manager, according to two outlets.

The Irish Examiner and Extra.ie both report that he has met with FAI officials three times since Stephen Kenny's departure in November.

Keane was assistant to Martin O'Neill the last time The Boys in Green made it to a major tournamentCredit: YouTube / The OverlapIreland made it to the last 16 of Euro 2016 before the following World Cup qualification campaign unravelled badly in the play-off stages against DenmarkFAI director of football Marc Canham and Chairman of the FAI international and high performance committee Packie Bonner before Tuesday's friendly with SwitzerandKeane's ex-club and international teammate John O'Shea took interim charge for this month's window

Neither has any further detail of how the meetings with the divisive icon went.

But that the FAI has been in such repeated contact is a jolt to what had previously been perceived to be Keane's flagging hopes of landing the gig.

Wednesday saw Association chiefs host their monthly board meeting where the party line around their April reveal date was reaffirmed.

An FAI spokesperson summarised: "The board of the FAI had its scheduled end of month meeting this morning and a range of issues were discussed.

"The process to appoint our senior men's team head coach will now be finalised, led by the CEO (Jonathan Hill) and director of football (Canham), with an announcement planned in April, as planned."

President Paul Cooke later told RTE: "We’re on schedule for an April announcement.

“The (precise) timing is not certain at this moment in time.

"We’ve narrowed the process well down.

"We would be comfortable that the candidate will fit into our plan and processes going forward.

"The intention is that the manager will start as soon as possible."

Among the other issues thrashed out over the course of the four-hour meeting was CEO Jonathan Hill's job security being solidified despite growing unrest among rank and file members.

Marc Canham - charged with leading the search for Kenny's permanent successor - last month outlined that the Association had struck a deal with its preferred target.

However, he added that 'existing contractual obligations' precluded them from announcing that person's identity until early April.

It's believed that timeline has now been pushed back slightly to the middle of the month.

This is so as not to overshadow the women's team's pair of Euros qualifiers against France and England on April 5 and 9 respectively.

WHAT KEANE'S SAID

Cork's most famous son did declare his public - if muted - interest in the post in January.

Speaking on Stick to Football, he coyly stated: "Yes, I enjoyed international football when I was a coach there.

"I like the dynamics of it where you’re not in everyday and it’s not about bringing players in and dealing with the board every week.

"That does appeal to me, I did enjoy the dynamics when I was coaching with the Irish team – that could be an option.”