Niall Quinn's troubled international career will be put back on course tomorrow when Mick McCarthy announces his squad for the European Championship meeting with Yugoslavia in Belgrade on October 10th.

Quinn, once a constant in the team, has missed 14 of Ireland's last 16 games because of various injuries. Now, on the strength of just two substitutions for Sunderland, the second in the 1-1 draw at Portsmouth on Saturday, he will reclaim his place in the travelling party for Belgrade.

He was always likely to be among the 22 names in the preliminary squad. The more pertinent question is whether he will qualify for a place in the starting line-up against the Yugoslavs.

In a post-script to the player's withdrawal from the game against Croatia at Lansdowne Road earlier this month, the manager, in an impressive testimonial of faith, said that a fit Quinn would have been in his team.

That statement was intended as a confidence booster for the big striker, but it remains to be seen if it translates into a summons to action in the Red Star stadium a week on Saturday.

Among other things, it will depend on the formation McCarthy chooses to deploy. Should he choose to close the game down, he may withdraw a specialist forward and introduce Lee Carsley to buttress midfield.

The choice then would be between Robbie Keane and Quinn for the task of occupying the Yugoslav defence. For all Keane's emerging talent, the mature Sunderland player would be the better bet for the job.

That, of course, is to overlook the claims of Tony Cascarino, who at 37 often appeared to defy the years in a display of non-stop running in the opening game against Croatia. McCarthy's intention was to keep him in reserve for emergency action late in the game, but when the call came unexpectedly early, the veteran's response was brave and effective.

One man definitely out of the running is Keith O'Neill of Norwich City whose injury problems are, sadly, on-going. O'Neill's recuperation from the injury which saw him stretchered off within five minutes of the kick-off against Croatia is proving more difficult than anticipated and it will be at least another fortnight before he resumes light training. Also out is Gary Kelly, still only at an early stage of his recovery from a damaged shin. McCarthy, however, was encouraged by the return of some key members of his squad to Premiership action in the last week.

There was the encouragement, too, of a brighter performance from Phil Babb, who emerged from Liverpool's 2-0 defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford with at least some of his reputation repaired after poor performances in recent club games and some nervous moments against Croatia.

Pitted against Dwight Yorke, he looked a lot more assured at Old Trafford, however, and nobody was happier for him than McCarthy. "I thought he had a fine game last Thursday and almost certainly it will have helped his confidence," he said.

"Some of the criticism which was levelled at him after the Croatian match was unfair. Everybody makes errors but his are always highlighted by certain people."

That amounts to a vote of confidence by the manager, but the certainty is that the choice of a partner for Ken Cunningham in central defence in Belgrade will still weigh heavily on McCarthy's mind.

Significantly, he chose to watch Gary Breen in action for Coventry against Charlton on Saturday and Ian Harte's impressive run with Leeds United, albeit at left back, is not going unnoticed. At this point, there are a number of options opening up to the Ireland manager at the heart of his defence. On his final judgment may depend Irish hopes of salvaging an important point from a difficult assignment.