McCarthy left to ponder line-up

Mick McCarthy was yesterday coming to terms with the fact that he will not be able to count on the inspirational presence of Roy Keane nor his Manchester United colleague, Denis Irwin, for the European championship meeting with Croatia here in the Maksimir Stadium tomorrow evening.

Before a mild celebration of Wednesday's 2-1 win over Yugoslavia, he knew for certain that Keane would be returning to Manchester on an early morning flight for treatment of a hamstring injury. And soon afterwards, he learned that Irwin, too, would not be fit to face the Croatians.

His immediate reaction was to call up the Ipswich midfielder Matt Holland to join Stoke's Graham Kavanagh on a flight from London to Zagreb last evening and they are expected to join the squad in a light training session at a club ground just outside the city this morning.

Kavanagh's superb strike, not wholly dissimilar to Mark Kennedy's spectacular effort on Wednesday, provided the initial impetus for the 2-nil win over Sweden in April and, no less than Holland, yet to play at senior international level, his presence in the support squad is welcome.

Yet, the loss of Keane is immense and the point is not being lost on McCarthy - "He's a world class player, an inspiration to those who play with him and you just don't replace someone of his quality with a magic wand. Denis Irwin, too, is a great player who obviously has a big part to play in our attempt to reach the European finals.

"I offered to fly them back to Manchester for treatment and then bring them out here if they were fit to play, but deep down, I knew it was futile. Alex Ferguson was good enough to let me have the players well in advance, in the first instance, and we owed it to him to return them to the club immediately, once there was a problem."

McCarthy added: "It's a huge double blow, but the fact is that they're not here - other lads are waiting for their chance to make their point and we'll just have to get on with it. We've still got a strong squad and the value of the squad system is that it prepares players for contingencies such as this."

Not all of the hard luck stories are on Ireland's side, for it emerged yesterday that in addition to Zvonimir Boban, Croatia's manager Miroslav Blazevic must also plan without the skills of the Lazio player Alen Boksic who was expected to partner Davor Suker in the front line.

Boban is to Croatia what Roy Keane is to Ireland, a superb rallying point whose performances with AC Milan had already identified him as a special talent before he got the chance of proving it on the biggest stage of all in his country's progress to the semi-finals of the World Cup.

In this instance, at least some of the blame would appear to be attached to Blazevic. After working exceptionally hard to get himself fit for the critical game against Yugoslavia in Belgrade a fortnight ago, Boban, against his better wishes, was prevailed upon to play in the recent game against Malta. That decision was to back-fire on Blazevic, for within 15 minutes of the start, the midfielder had aggravated a pelvic injury and is now likely to be out for at least a month.

The word, when the Irish squad touched down in a surprisingly cool Zagreb yesterday, was that Croatia are planning to recall the former Everton player, Slaven Bilic. Bilic apparently played in a practice game against a local junior team here on Tuesday and did sufficiently well to warrant inclusion in a squad of 23. That may well prove misleading, however, for while Blazevic is not expected to announce his team until shortly before the game, those close to the Croatian camp say that Bilic is not likely to be included in it.

Damien Duff, the Blackburn midfielder, who was not considered for the Yugoslav game because of a damaged hamstring, yesterday made it clear that he is available for selection on Saturday.

"I feel fine, my leg is strong and I'm available for selection if needed" he said. Whether in fact McCarthy will take up that option is still unclear after Kevin Kilbane had made a significant contribution to Wednesday's result.

Reflecting on the performance, the Irish manager said it wasn't just the victory, it was the manner in which Ireland executed it against what is supposedly one of the best teams in Europe. "We beat them fair and square by playing attacking football and we won it with two quality strikes," McCarthy said.

Yet, he is not allowing himself to be carried away in his assessment of the Croatian team. "I think they are now a far better team than the one we played in Dublin last year," he said. "We surprised them a little on that occasion, they didn't play as well as they could, but now I feel they're back on song again."

On the possibility of the group condensing into a two-team race between Ireland and Yugoslavia, he said: "Undeniably that will happen if we win or even draw the game in Zagreb. But that's easier said than done."

There are those who expect McCarthy to deploy a fifth midfielder, possibly Alan McLoughlin, and go with only one specialist forward. If he does, it could mean that Robbie Keane, one of the heroes of Wednesday's success, could start the game on the bench with Niall Quinn getting the job of target man.

"I have certain things in my mind, certain strategies I'm tinkering with, but I'm not about to go divulging my plans at this point," he said. FAI officials yesterday confirmed that UEFA's drug control unit tested four players, two from either side, after Wednesday's game at Lansdowne Road.