By Cathal Dervan

THE Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern is to ask the Cypriot authorities why they ripped off the traveling Irish fans in Nicosia on Saturday night. The locals, the few of them who turned up, were charged just €15 to watch Cyprus record a famous victory. The 2,000 visitors, double the size of the home crowd, were charged an astonishing €55 by the Cypriot FA, who claimed a local sponsor subsidized the price for their own fans. Rubbish. The Cypriots spotted a chance to rip off the Republic fans and took it . . .

THE Roy Keane legacy lives on. The Irish players flew in and out of Cyprus in first class luxury aboard an Exel Airways Boeing over the weekend, but with only 24 such seats on board manager Stephen Staunton and his coaching staff were forced to sit in business class with the rest of us down the back. As one wag suggested on Sunday evening’s delayed flight home, the players should have been put in steerage and the fans who paid through the nose offered the first class seats . . .

IRELAND substitute Alan Lee was one of the few players to go over to the visiting fans at the end of Saturday night’s disaster and thank them for their support. That took guts considering some of the abuse that was directed at the team by the fans during the game. Even more bizarre was the decision of some Ireland fans to leave long before the game was over. I know it was bad. but fans are supposed to stand by their team through thick and thin -– that’s what being a fan is all about . . .

SUNDAY Independent journalist John O’Brien was the only man with a reason to be happy as the media bus left the GSP Stadium on Saturday night after winning the traditional sweep on the big match. John was the only hack to go for a Cypriot win, 2-1 as it happened, so he walked away with a cool €300 for his foresight. Me? I went for a 3-0 Ireland win with Robbie Keane to score the first goal! . . .

BRIAN Kerr scowled a lot during his time in the media hotel before the game in Cyprus on Saturday night, but at least he’s back in the public eye as the Irish fans who thronged the Step Inn pub in downtown Limassol can verify. Kerr was a regular there during his time on the island, and also made it into the wonderfully named Auld Triangle nightclub on more than one occasion . . .

DAMIEN Duff revealed before the Cyprus game on Saturday that he has never received the yellow jersey awarded to the worst player in an Irish training session. After the display offered up on the name of Ireland on Saturday night the players night like to award a yellow jersey to the worst player on view in each match -– although they might have needed 11 such jerseys last weekend . . .

ALFIE from Drogheda has been traveling with the Irish team for years, so I asked him on the plane home from Cyprus if he had ever witnessed a worse game of football than Saturday night’s 5-2 defeat. “Yeah, once,” he replied. “In the Phoenix Park.” That just about sums it up . . .

THE Irish Daily Mirror informed us on Monday that the injured Liam Miller had left the Ireland squad and gone back to his club Leeds. I’m sure Roy Keane, who signed Miller for Sunderland a month ago, might have something to say about that.