Cascarino still has his eyes on record

Not much action at the Republic of Ireland team hotel yesterday where manager Mick McCarthy was counting the bodies arriving from across the water, waiting a little restlessly for the tally to reach 21 so that the preparations for Ireland's first competitive game in almost a year could begin in earnest.

Niall Quinn's back problem remains the only point of concern so far for McCarthy who expects to hear from the 31-year-old Dubliner after he sees a specialist in London today. After that call and, he hopes, the safe arrival of Robbie Keane, Dean Kiely, who kept his fifth successive clean sheet for Bury yesterday, and Alan McLoughlin, who scored again in Portsmouth's 3-0 win over QPR, the Ireland boss will finally be in a position to weigh up his options from Saturday.

By the looks of things McCarthy will be in a stronger position than at any time through the latter half of the World Cup qualifying campaign. He has long known, he says, his strongest 11 and when he is free to choose his best players, he insists: "I've always been pleased and the results have been what I would have expected."

Quinn's loss would, of course, be a considerable blow to the manager who said only last week he wants Robbie Keane playing up front along side a bigger man. At 6ft 2in Keith O'Neill could fill the gap, though, while so too, of course, could Tony Cascarino.

As he celebrates his 36th birthday with the rest of the squad today, Cascarino admits to being surprised that he is still part of McCarthy's set up, but not "'alf pleased.

"I think everybody knows that after the Brussels game me, Andy and Ray went to Mick to talk about the situation and I said then that, while I didn't expect to get called again and I understood that he'd have to go with the young lads, I'd always be available to him."

The news that McCarthy was availing of the offer so soon came last week in the form of a phone call from his old friend Andy Townsend and, as it happened, it arrived at a time when the veteran is enjoying some of his best form of recent seasons.

Two goals for Nancy in their opening four games ("if I'd managed that sort of strike rate in England I'd be a rich man now," he beams) have already justified the decision of the club's coach, Ladzo Boloni, to give him another crack at top-flight football and Cascarino, looking fitter and leaner than he has in years, is enjoying every minute of his latest spell in the big time.

"To be playing in the top level in any country at this stage in my career would be good and I think the French championship is almost on a par with the English championship so for me to be involved with that again is fantastic.

"To be honest, I didn't think I would be involved that much with the club, but then I worked harder than I'd done in years before this season started, I've played all of the four games so far and I'd have to say I think I've played pretty well in all of them."

His tally during his four years in France, between Marseille and Nancy, is approaching the 100 goal mark but his more immediate target, if he does get to play a part on Saturday will be Frank Stapleton's international goalscoring record of 20.

"Yeah, it's been hanging around for a while, that one. If I get a chance to play on Saturday then I'll definitely be looking to equal it, but I'd prefer if it was Lichtenstein we were playing then I might have a real chance of getting on and beating it."

He knows that his time is running out if he is to etch his name in the history books. "At my age you just have to take every game as a one off." On a more positive note, Cascarino says: "I think I've always done a good job for Ireland and it's only a year since I did alright out in Lithuania so who knows, I might still get there in the end."

Certainly, as McCarthy readily pointed out yesterday, he is still in good shape even if the way he got there wasn't entirely intentional.

"Well, I'll tell you about that," Cascarino chuckles as he makes his way out to rejoin the rest of his players "I went to Morocco for a holiday before pre-season and as soon as I got there I got the bug. I must have lost eight pounds in a week. I'll be going there every year from now on."

His chances of still being around for the home game against Macedonia, meanwhile, have been boosted considerably by the news that Lansdowne Road will be unavailable for October 10th, the date the game was originally scheduled for, due to the rugby world cup.

The FAI have been negotiating with the Macedonians recently in an attempt to fix a new date, probably in the spring, but have yet to agree an alternative or to approach UEFA for permission to make a switch.