Cunningham the rock on which McCarthy builds

Kenny Cunningham's levels of awareness form an important part of Mick McCarthy's match plan going into this evening's meeting with Malta.

The Irish will be under pressure to win and win well, but McCarthy acknowledges the risk of being caught on the break. It will be Cunningham's responsibility to mind the house while others go in search of the goals and the glory on an evening rich with promise. Cunningham will board his flight to London tomorrow morning with a precious piece of hand luggage - the magnificent crystal trophy which he received in the Burlington Hotel last Sunday after being named as the Republic of Ireland's Player of the Year.

Celebrity status does not sit easily on the 27-year-old Dubliner. By his own admission, he has only twice been singled out in special dispatches. The first occasion was at Millwall, back in the infancy of his professional career, when he was named as the club's Young Player of the Year.

The other was when he was named by his Wimbledon teammates as the club's worst dressed player, a cruelty they were to visit on him two years in a row.

"With that kind of background, I had to feel privileged - and just a little uncomfortable - when my name was called to go and get the trophy on Sunday," he said. "It's not going to affect my performances, for better or worse. But it was still a lovely feeling to be given the award when it could so easily have gone to someone else."

Cunningham is the man who gives the lie to the popular concept of footballers as a brash, arrogant breed, long on cash but short on the qualities to use it prudently.

Quiet yet erudite, his voice has the ring of sincerity when he speaks of the enjoyment which comes with his trade.

And on the splurge of money into the pockets of big-name players, he says simply: "No, I don't envy them. These players can do things with a football which I could never even aspire to. I'm not pleading poverty, but there is, of course, a huge difference in the earning power of players at the bigger clubs and those with the less fashionable ones. That's the way the game is, but as long as I go on enjoying football and earning a good living in the process I won't complain."

For many, Cunningham's unlikely climb to the top is compelling evidence of the success of McCarthy's rebuilding programme. Within months of coming to power, the Irish manager had chosen him for the game against the Czech Republic in Prague - and the payback has been generous and consistent.

One way or another, it's difficult to understate McCarthy's influence on Cunningham's career. After all, it was McCarthy who took the Dubliner under his wing at Millwall after he moved there from Tolka Rovers.

McCarthy was again responsible for giving his career a new direction when, backing a hunch, he took the compactly-built full back and deployed him as a centre back.

Cunningham does not square with the accepted version of a centre back. Yet, his level of performance has been such that his is almost certainly one of the first names on paper when the manager selects his team.

"Yes, I have to be very grateful for that," he admits. "There is such a depth of talent at right back where the boss has the option of using players like Denis Irwin, Jeff Kenna, Gary Kelly, Curtis Fleming and Steve Carr, that I might have struggled to win a place in his side in that position."

Asked had he ever visualised a situation in which he would be summoned on stage to take possession of the most prestigious individual honour in Irish soccer, he said simply: "No, my ambition never stretched beyond winning a place in the team for the next match."

No less than Alan McLoughlin two years ago, his award was proof that even in today's hypedup game, there is still room for the quiet, unobtrusive men who hold it all together for the superstars. Despite suggestions to the contrary, Ireland may again have reason to be grateful this evening!