McCarthy: I’ll keep the head up

GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI has been rightly criticised for his poor communication skills but the Ireland manager’s words were music to James McCarthy’s ears after Tuesday’s friendly against Uruguay.

The Wigan Athletic player approached the tie with just 24 minutes of international football to his credit but his selection in the ‘hole’ behind Shane Long in a 4-5-1 formation garnered the bulk of attention in an otherwise low-key build-up.

Sky Sports even chose the former Hamilton Academical player to feature alongside Diego Forlan in their pre-match advertising but large chunks of the game passed by without his imprint being left behind.