Trapattoni set to call on McCarthy

NEVER mind the new era in Irish politics, we seem to have entered a new era in Irish football press conferences.

And a welcome one it is too.

At FAI headquarters in Abbotstown yesterday, Giovanni Trapattoni prefaced his squad announcement for the Macedonia European Championship qualifier (and Uruguay friendly) with an apology for the fact that his slippery command of English might have led to some confusion in the past.