Kevin Kilbane has been assigned a role of some significance as the Republic of Ireland seek to re-establish themselves as a potent force in international football with a win over Argentina at Lansdowne Road this evening.

The tall West Bromwich Albion player is required to lend width to the attack down the left, a challenge which has defeated some well-known players since the days when Liam Brady was the first name down on Ireland team-sheets.

Together with Niall Quinn and Robbie Keane, he is the only confirmed starter in the home team as Mick McCarthy ponders the feasibility of starting with two players, Ken Cunningham and Lee Carsley, who have taken only a limited part in the build-up to the game.

Cunningham, who has developed an imposing stature after just two years in the team, is still troubled by a groin strain and Carsley, suitably wrapped on a damp morning for yesterday's training session at the match venue, hasn't yet shaken off a bout of flu.

It means that McCarthy is unable to name a team until just before the kick-off, a practice which is now almost accepted as the norm for competitive games, but which caused him some genuine heartache on this occasion.

In the circumstances, confirmation of Kilbane's selection was a subject of some interest to hard-pressed newsmen, the more so since the winger has traversed the whole spectrum of emotion in just two half-games at the top level. There was undeniable pain when he was withdrawn at half-time on his debut in Iceland last September after he failed to deliver on his reputation as a skilful ball player with an eye for goal.

That misadventure weighed heavily on him until he was summoned to replace Damien Duff for the last half hour of the game against the Czech Republic last month. And he grabbed the chance of rehabilitation in a manner which pleased McCarthy as much as it may have delighted the player himself.

"I was very pleased to be reassured about his character," he said. "The player we saw in Iceland had little in common with the one who impressed me when I first watched him with Preston and later, West Brom.

"That was a bad experience for him, but to his credit, he put it all behind him and showed what a fine player he is in the game in Olomouc. Taking on an Argentinian defence is something else again, but I'm hopeful."

With Gary Kelly, presumably, operating on the opposite flank, Kilbane's inclusion ought to ensure a good balance in the middle line of the team, but the overall efficiency of the midfield formation will depend, to a large degree, on whether Carsley is cleared to play.

Andy Townsend's retirement has exacerbated Roy Keane's absence to the point where Ireland may find themselves short of a physical presence in the pivotal positions in midfield. Carsley's inclusion would go some way towards redressing that situation, although McCarthy may also have in mind a role for Gareth Farrelly.

Of those who ventured onto the big stage for the first time at Olomouc last month, none impressed McCarthy more than Mark Kinsella, a neat, creative player whose talent has not, perhaps, been afforded a suitable outlet for expression at clubs like Colchester and Charlton Athletic.

As of now, he may be in line to fill one of the vacancies left by the departure of the old guard and he may well be given the opportunity to illustrate the point here.

Cunningham's possible absence from central defence would present the manager with the choice of going with a partnership of Gary Breen and Phil Babb, two players whose styles are not wholly dissimilar, or playing one of them alongside Ian Harte.

Harte, who has already filled three different roles in his short career as a senior international, is viewed by McCarthy as a central defender. A shortage of first-team football at Leeds was given as the reason for his omission from the starting line-up in the Czech Republic, but it's scarcely a relevant factor now.

Despite the convincing claims of Jeff Kenna, Denis Irwin and Steve Staunton look reasonably certain to win the two fullback positions, with Shay Given again likely to shade Alan Kelly for the goalkeeper's sweater.

Argentina's shock defeat by Israel at Jerusalem last Wednesday, appears to have had the effect of making manager Daniel Passerella still more wary of the press. As a player, Passerella could never be accused of ducking too many questions, but it's a trait he appears to have taken into his role as the national team manager.

Already under pressure after a jittery World Cup qualifying programme which included an unexpected defeat by Peru, his cause was scarcely helped by events in Jerusalem after he had masterminded an impressive sequence of wins over Romania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.

For whatever reason, the South Americans were in no mood to tarry as they swept through Dublin Airport late on Monday evening and were even less co-operative yesterday morning when after the original arrangement to train at the Carlisle Grounds had been changed, they refused to disclose their revised plan.

In the event, they were traced to the Bank of Ireland ground at Knockrabo, but if Passerella and his helpers were keen to reward journalistic ingenuity, it certainly didn't show and unannounced arrivals were quickly discouraged from watching.

Later in the day, it emerged that the multi-capped Fiorentina striker Gabriel Batistuta would have a big part to play in their match strategy and that players like Matlas Almeyda, Diego Simeone and Juan Sebastian Veron could have important roles to fill in opening the supply routes to him.

In each of their two previous visits here, in 1951 and again in 1980 when Diego Maradona made his European debut at Lansdowne Road, the South Americans won 1-0 and given the respective priorities of the teams, one in the last phase of its preparations for the World Cup finals, the other building hopefully for the future, it is unlikely that much will have changed this evening.

And yet, there was sufficient merit in last month's brave, if losing performance against the Czech Republic to suggest that Ireland are not without hope of emerging with a creditable result.

If they do, a lot of the kudos will, almost certainly, go to an experienced defence and the exciting new front-line partnership of Niall Quinn and Robbie Keane.

Even at 30, Quinn's skills are still being refined and the precocious talent of Keane, some 13 years younger, is sufficiently exciting to suggest that given the chance, they will cause a problem or two for a team which, Jerusalem notwithstanding, is not in the habit of conceding too many goals.