Mick McCarthy is to resist demands to recall Paul McGrath, the veteran Sheffield United defender, for the second leg of the World Cup play-off against Belgium in Brussels a week on Saturday. McCarthy will name his squad tomorrow and, while he declines to speculate on his choice of centre backs, the certainty is that he will decide against recalling McGrath for the first time in eight months.

Instead, he will make a public declaration of his faith in the central defensive partnership of Ken Cunningham and Ian Harte which was criticised in some quarters after the 1-1 draw.

McGrath, whose 83 international appearances is a record for the Republic of Ireland, last played in the friendly game against Wales at Cardiff in February. Subsequently, he was named in the squad for the World Cup assignment in Macedonia but withdrew because of injury, just hours before the squad left Dublin.

Since then his consistency has been ignored by the national team manager and in spite of public pleas by Liam Brady and Frank Stapleton for a reassessment of McGrath's claims, that situation is set to continue.

Brady said: "I don't know what it is between Mick and Paul or even if Paul wants to play again for Ireland. But all the reports suggest that he is still playing brilliantly for Sheffield United."

Another ringing endorsement of McGrath's current form, is provided by Stapleon. "At Sheffield they surround him with younger players who can run and the effect is to make them one of the best organised defences in their division.

"Because Ireland has such a small pool to draw from, it is dangerous for any manager to `retire' players and I believe Mick should give himself the option of using Paul on those occasions when he can do a job for him. In short, I think he should involve him in the squad."

McCarthy, a man who knows a thing or two about the requirements for an international centre back, declines to comment directly on McGrath, a man with whom he played alongside in the finals of the 1988 European Championship in Germany and again in the World Cup finals in Italy two years later.

Instead, he prefers to point to the qualities of the CunninghamHarte partnership which he devised, against all expectations, for the first game against Romania in Bucharest in April and has stuck with ever since.

"I purposely didn't read any reports on Wednesday's game because I didn't want to get upset but I was annoyed by some of the comments I heard about Kenny and Ian," said McCarthy. "From where I sat, they did a good job on a night when the team in general, didn't play particularly well."

The manager had contrasting news yesterday from two of those hoping to establish their fitness before he commits himself to a formation tomorrow. After a further course of treatment at the weekend, Keith O'Neil has now abandoned hope of recovering in time from the foot injury which has troubled him persistently since the start of the season.

Against that, however, David Kelly is poised to broaden his front-line options after being forced out of last week's game with a damaged ankle. Kelly reported no adverse reaction on his return to Tranmere Rovers' team on Saturday when he scored in their 2-1 defeat by Sheffield United.

Meanwhile, Roy Keane is recovering in hospital after undergoing an operation last night for the repair of a torn cruciate ligament. Surgery has been pending since September 27th when the volatile Irishman sustained the injury in a game against Leeds United at Elland Road.

Manchester United are still insisting that their club captain will not play again until the start of next season but depending on how Ireland make out in Brussels in 10 days time, that scehdule could be advanced by a couple of months.

His clubmate Dennis Irwin is expected to confirm his recovery from a thigh strain by playing for United in their return European Champions League meeting with Feyenoord tomorrow evening.

The injury, sustained in the closing stages of last Wednesday's game at Lansdowne Road, kept him out of the 6-1 demolition of Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday but after training yesterday, he said he was now confident that the problem had cleared.

"I was able to run and kick the ball without any restriction and at this point I'm available for selection for United's game against Feyenoord," he said yesterday.

"Mick McCarhy was in contact with me about the injury and I was able to assure him that I'm fit again. Like everybody else, I was disappointed by the way we played in the first game against Belgium but I think I can promise, that it will be better in Brussels.

"Given the way we played, a 1-1 scoreline wasn't all that unacceptable last Wednesday. It has given us a lifeline to reach he World Cup finals and it goes almost without saying that everybody is ready to grab it".