McCarthy praises team spirit

Mick McCarthy spoke yesterday of a reawakening of the spirit of 1990 after he had supervised a training session in preparation for tomorrow's vital World Cup game in the Zalgiris Stadium.

Acknowledging the different perspectives of his changed role - he captained the side on the Republic of Ireland's first appearance in the World Cup finals in Italy - he said that there were still encouraging parallels.

"We're not there yet, but I think we're fast developing the kind of togetherness which made us so difficult to beat in other times," he said.

"Players thrown together for the first time in many instances last year are now beginning to enjoy each other's company off the pitch and are prepared to work even harder for each other on it.

"Apart from a brief spell in the game in Macedonia, I've never had reason to question either the workrate or commitment of my players. But now, I sense that we're moving onto a different level in that area. And it's very reassuring."

That the manager should see fit to praise his squad in the approach to the biggest test of his managerial career was perhaps scarcely surprising after the streaky nature of last Saturday's performance in Iceland.

In quieter moments, he muses on the irony of a situation in which his team scores four times in a World Cup game away from home and still attracts almost as much criticism as praise from supporters.

That, perhaps, is the most damning illustration yet of the dangerous level of expectation amongst the Irish public. But in a fashion, it reflects McCarthy's own feelings on a game in which the quality of the defence of both teams was generally abysmal.

In particular, it focused attention on the relatively-new central defensive partnership of Ken Cunningham and Ian Harte which, at times, was in some danger of coming apart in the face of some aggressive running by Heigi Sigurdsson and Thodur Gudjonsson.

There are times when we tend to overlook the fact that Harte is still eligible for under-21 competition for another year and that Cunningham, even at 26, is less than two years into his senior international career.

Modern professional sport is a singularly unforgiving business, however, and neither age nor inexperience deflected the arrows which flew in their direction in the inquests into the Reykjavik expedition.

McCarthy, himself, was heard to holler his disquiet from the bench on occasions, but without putting too fine a point on it, he hinted that both would be keeping their places when he names his team just before kick-off. "Our centre backs don't now win that first ball all the time, but they're still doing a good job for me," he said. "And that's all the more commendable when you consider that they are both primarily full-backs.

"Ian, for example, had hardly played more than a couple of club games in the centre when I picked him there, but his response was to go out and play the position as if he'd filled it all his life. At his age, I was simply incapable of doing the things which he now does so easily and so naturally."

McCarthy also had words of encouragement for another of his young players, Kevin Kilbane, but after struggling on his debut in Iceland, it looks as if he will only get a seat on the bench.

With Mark Kennedy suspended, it emphasises the current shortage of left-sided midfield players and one of the effects will be to focus renewed interest on the versatile Steve Staunton, who was converted into a midfielder with significant success during Jack Charlton's reign.

Like Alan McLoughlin, Staunton missed training with a leg injury yesterday, but he is expected to be available as McCarthy embarks on the challenge of disguising the loss of the three suspended players, Andy Townsend, Jeff Kenna and Mark Kennedy in his late team selection. Hopes that Ray Houghton would be available to travel from London and broaden the options in midfield have not been substantiated as the Reading player-coach continues to struggle with a groin problem.

Gareth Farrelly and Neale Fenn have been promoted from the under-21 team, but except in a situation of extreme urgency, neither is expected to make the starting lineup. Farrelly, seen by many as the long-term replacement for Andy Townsend, will be rejoining the squad after a protracted absence, but for Fenn it represents a new challenge.

Denis Irwin and Jason McAteer are two of the players likely to profit from the suspensions and depending on the formation the manager chooses to deploy, Tony Cascarino, Terry Phelan and Phil Babb will be contenders for the third vacancy in the team which won in Iceland.

An interesting aspect of the selection will be McCarthy's choice of a team captain to replace Townsend. Cascarino was a diplomatic choice for the Eoin Hand testimonial game, but the consensus here is that either Staunton or Keane will lead out the side.

Gareth Farrelly and Neale Fenn have been promoted from the under-21 tean.

It rained for much of the day in Vilnius yesterday and local weather forecasts predict only a slight improvement by match time tomorrow.

There was good news for Niall Quinn yesterday following an exploratory operation on his injured knee. The injury, which was thought to be career threatening, is not a reoccurrence of that which kept him out for almost four months last season.

"The problem is not related to the original injury and we expect that Niall will be back in about a month," said a spokesman for Sunderland.