Little plain sailing for the Republic's former skipper

The manager's career Last month's slip-up against Switzerland, the result that in the end sealed Mick McCarthy's fate, may have come as a surprise, but in truth there was little plain sailing during the 43-year-old's six years and nine months in charge of the Irish team.

There were problems pretty much from the start for the Republic's former skipper, with his first weeks in charge marred by a dispute with his new employers over who he might hire as his assistant. McCarthy got the man he wanted, his former assistant at Millwall, Ian Evans, but worse was to come. Within a few months there were the first public signs of trouble with Roy Keane, the player who would finally contribute so much to his downfall.

From the outset, too, he found that he would have to contend with persistent criticism from a section of the media that never accepted he was up to the job.

His credentials certainly didn't mark him out as the obvious choice to replace Jack Charlton when, after the Republic's failure to qualify for Euro '96, the FAI decided to push the Englishman before he could reconsider his publicly stated intention to jump.

Attractive options weren't thick on the ground, though, and so McCarthy was appointed on February 5th, 1996, after a messy selection procedure in which Liam Brady, Mike Walker, Joe Kinnear, Dave Bassett and Ronnie Whelan had all emerged as serious contenders.

His time at Millwall, promising in managerial terms but by no means an unqualified success, had established that he would attempt to steer the Irish team away from Charlton's much-criticised style of play, a fact underlined by his first game in charge, when his team lined out in a 3-5-2 formation against Russia at Lansdowne Road where they lost 2-0. Roy Keane captained the side for the second half of the game - until he was sent off.

Results during the months that followed were no better with the side managing just two draws in seven games, prior to the 3-0 defeat of Bolivia in New Jersey in June. Though things improved during the campaign for World Cup qualification that followed, the team's form remained erratic with points dropped in the home games against Iceland and Lithuania as well as the painful 3-2 defeat in Macedonia. Combined with the team's inability to beat what had been considered a Romanian side in decline, the results ensured that the Republic finished a distant second to Georghe Hagi and Co in their group and just one point ahead of the Lithuanians.

Still, it was good enough to earn his side a play-off against Belgium, although from the time that Luc Nilis scored in the Dublin leg of the tie Ireland's hopes of qualifying for a third successive World Cup finals faded steadily.

Despite failing to qualify, McCarthy, who had initially been given a two-year deal, had his contract renewed. With another couple of the Charlton old guard opting to end their international careers, he set about bringing in a few new faces. When the team played again, against the Czech Republic in Olomouc the following March, a handful of players, including Damien Duff, Mark Kinsella and Robbie Keane, made their senior debuts.

By now McCarthy was clearly learning from his earlier mistakes. The attempt to play with wing-backs had been abandoned and he settled into using a traditional 4-4-2 formation. The team retained some characteristics of the Charlton era, the pace of their game and the determination to close opponents down, but there was a new emphasis on passing football with an enthusiasm for getting the ball out wide.

The improvements were clear to see when Ireland beat Croatia convincingly in the team's first game of the Euro 2000 qualification campaign, but McCarthy had yet to learn that even away from home the various qualities and shortcomings of the players available to him meant that attack was the best form of defence.

The team won all of its home games, with the group's other big name, Yugoslavia, going down 2-1. But with qualification looking to be firmly within his grasp McCarthy seemed to lose his nerve in Zagreb where he reverted to a 4-5-1 formation with Tony Cascarino playing up front by himself, and rested a couple of by now first choice players, including Robbie Keane.

The game was lost to an injury time strike from Davor Suker, and four days later in Valletta it took a late free kick from Steve Staunton to secure a 3-2 win. The results left Ireland with a chance of still progressing automatically, depending on how their final game in Skopje and the meeting of Yugoslavia and Croatia went.

In the end, Niall Quinn gave the Irish the lead over their opponents, but after making changes for which he would be heavily criticised later McCarthy saw his men concede a very late equaliser which meant that they would once again have to settle for the play-offs.

Again they drew 1-1 in the home leg and again they couldn't overcome the handicap of having to chase the tie in the second game. Turkey couldn't beat the Irish in either game but a nil all draw in Bursa was enough to put them through on the away goals rule.

The following summer, while the continent's best teams competed at a thrilling championship in Belgium and Holland, the Irish headed west for another US Cup. The manner of Roy Keane's late withdrawal from the travelling party was an embarrassment for the manager, but again McCarthy used his friendlies well, bringing back a squad that carried itself with a good deal more self-belief in the build-up to the opening games of the Republic's next competitive programme.

On the face of it Ireland's group in the qualifying stages of the 2002 World Cup was considerably tougher than either of the two in which the team had previously finished second under McCarthy. The Portuguese and Dutch had performed strongly at Euro 2000, both had teams packed with international stars and each had a coach with a more impressive CV.

The Irishman played his hand exceptionally well, however. The early draws in Amsterdam and Lisbon were followed by a series of impressively solid performances against the group's weaker sides and second place in the group was secured with a memorable, if slightly fortunate defeat of the Dutch at home. It meant the play-offs again, of course, but this time the Iranians would prove incapable of blocking Ireland's path.

Having reached a finals tournament at last, McCarthy would guide his team through the group stages without his best player and go desperately close to seeing them eliminate Spain in the second phase.

It may not have been a flawless performance by the Ireland boss, but it was still a remarkable achievement. For all that, though, the cloud of Keane's absence, the result of those dramatic events in Saipan, has hung over him ever since.