Houghton is main worry for McCarthy

SHAY GIVEN, Andy Townsend and Ray Houghton will not be checking in with the rest of the republic of Ireland squad today, which will be supplemented by the addition of Liam O'Brien, but Houghton remains Mick McCarthy's only abiding concern prior to next week's World Cup qualifier against the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Houghton missed Crystal Palace's 2-2 draw at Portsmouth on Tuesday night and by his own estimation, the converted central midfielder rates his chances of playing next Wednesday as "touch and go".

By contrast, Townsend is merely remaining in Birmingham for an additional 24 hours to undergo further treatment on the back injury which ruled him out of Aston Villa's 4-3 defeat to Newcastle last Monday.

Meantime, McCarthy is as keen as Blackburn manager Ray Harford that Given remain in England for a reserve team game on Saturday after missing one during the week with a dead leg.

"Ray's got a calf strain. I would say he's 60-40 at best just now, but I'll give him until over the weekend to see how he is," said McCarthy, yesterday. "Andy will be fine I'm sure. There's no point in them both turning up and not being fit, so I'll give them both lent of time."

"I'm allowing Shay Given to play in a reserve match on Saturday to show that he's fit as much as anything else," said McCarthy of his resident young goalkeeper, though Given 5 of first team football may count against him next week given Alan Kelly's current good form for Sheffield United.

Harford has also assured Mc Carthy of Jeff Kenna's fitness after he missed Blackburn's draw at Coventry last Saturday due to a medial knee ligament injury. McCarthy expects Tony Cascarino to join the squad as well, although the Marseilles target man was again omitted from a French league game on Wednesday night.

David Connolly, at one stage, a possible addition to the senior squad, has been withdrawn from the under-21 squad which will play Macedonia on Tuesday in Dalymount Park, as have Shaun Carey (Norwich), Rory Delap (Carlisle), Andy Turner (Portsmouth) and Kevin Kilbane (Preston).

In their stead, Ian Evans has called up Glen Crowe (Wolves), Robert Ryan (Huddersfield) and Owen Heary (Home Farm), the latter thus becoming the only National League player in the under-age squad.

Meanwhile, the Wimbledon owner Sam Hammam has again refuted suggestions that his club are on the verge of a move to Ireland after a renewal of cross- channel speculation regarding the proposed takeover of the club by the Paul McGuinness-headed Irish consortium.

"There is no situation like that and I think anyone who gives any credence to such stories is only embarrassing their newspapers and themselves. The same people are just getting earned away with this story which is germinating in Ireland."

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme yesterday morning, Hammam did not deny that he, was conducting negotiations with McGuinness and property developer Owen O Callaghan. It's more like a study than something to be implemented but we only will use that situation if we know that forever and a day that we cannot go back to Wimbledon in a logical manner that is feasible and practical," he explained.

Even if that fails, we will see if we can stay at Set burst Park for ever and a day, which means we need a detailed agreement with Crystal Palace."

"Some, people in Ireland are getting carried away. There is a difference between meeting a girl and saying hello, and getting married. Not every time you, meet someone you're, getting married, are you?"

While the move to the Wimbledon Greyhound track, partly funded by Merton Council, still seems Hammam's preferred option, increasingly it seems possible that, a takeover by the Irish consortium need not be contingent upon the relocating to Dublin. In the long term, the club could still retain the Dublin option.

There have been 52 applicants for the newt devised full-time post of National League executive secretary. The interviewing panel of Bernard O'Byrne, FAI chief executive, Phil Mooney, Michael Cody, Phoensie Nagle and Bill Attley are sifting through the applicants with a view to devising a short list, and hope to put forward their recommendation by the end of the month.

One of the anticipated front runners for the post, Bohemians secretary Donal Crowther, is not one of the applicants.