Ireland boss McCarthy sets March deadline for Declan Rice decision

Mick McCarthy has imposed a March deadline for Declan Rice to decide on his international future.

New Republic of Ireland manager McCarthy met with the 19-year-old in London last week in a bid to convince him to reject England’s advances and commit to the Irish cause.

McCarthy was accompanied by assistant Robbie Keane, while Rice’s father was also present.

“I had a really good meeting with him,” McCarthy confirmed yesterday. “It was myself, Robbie, and his dad and it’s just up to him when he wants to decide. That’s how I’ve left it, to be quite honest. He’s a really talented player and a lovely lad. He has a really nice family behind him.

“It’s not my decision as to whether he plays for the Republic of Ireland, it’s only my job if he decides he wants to stay with us, then I can pick him.”

Ireland begin their qualification campaign for Euro 2020 with a trip to Gibraltar in March and McCarthy, while desperate to secure the services of a player he believes could make 100 appearances for the Boys in Green, wants the issue resolved by then.

“I’d love to build a team around him,” he said. “We start in March and that’s my deadline, I need to know by then. He could be a future captain, he’s that type of player.”

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Goals On Sunday, McCarthy revealed he has made enquiries about Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford.

“I have asked about him, I’ve asked about lots of players and my intention is to speak with Patrick. He’s a terrific goalscorer, Patrick, he’s played against my teams. He just puts the ball in the net and you can’t have enough of those.”

On the subject of putting the ball in the net, McCarthy was thrilled to see Michael Obafemi become the youngest Irish goalscorer in Premier League history with his strike in Southampton’s 3-1 win at Huddersfield on Saturday.

“I’m delighted,” McCarthy said of the 18-year-old. “I’m going to watch him over Christmas. I was actually down that neck of the woods yesterday, but I was at Portsmouth watching Ronan Curtis.

“Martin O’Neill played him in his last game, gave him a cap, and there was a bit of criticism about it. I was on TV saying: ‘Look, it might be that Michael Obafemi turns out to be the next Robbie Keane and then we’ll all be lauding Martin for giving him his cap’.

“Well here he is, playing in the Premier League and scoring goals. He looks like he deserved it now. it’s to my benefit but, ultimately, it’s to the Republic of Ireland’s benefit.”

McCarthy’s second spell as Ireland manager won’t stretch beyond the upcoming campaign, with Stephen Kenny set to replace him in 2020.

McCarthy admitted he would have liked a longer contract, but said he was never going to turn down the chance to return to the Ireland fold.

“I was looking for two terms, of course I was. Bear in mind, I’ve got no friendlies to prepare for it so I thought it would be nice to have Euros and World Cup but it was in place that they wanted Stephen to be in it.

“Bear in mind, he’s done very well in the League of Ireland with Dundalk, he’s done well in the Europa League, and they (the FAI) want to see that progression. At the end of it, I said: ‘Look, I’m never, ever going to turn it down.’

“I get my shot at qualifying for the Euros and then we’ll see what happens. If we qualify, of course it’s going to make it harder for me to leave, but that’s agreed and I will leave. And if we do well in the Euros then I’m certain I’ll get another job elsewhere. If we don’t get to the Euros, if we don’t do well, they won’t want me there anyway.”

Ireland’s Euro 2020 group may lack glamour opposition like France, Spain, and Germany but McCarthy warned qualification will be no easy task.

We should be able to go to Gibraltar and get a result, that’s the truth of it. There’s no point in me sitting here and saying anything else. But Switzerland are probably one of the form teams in Europe, Denmark have beaten us recently and I find those teams are even harder to play against because they don’t have the ‘wow’ factor of Germany, France, or Spain, but they’re just as good.

We’ve a really tough group with Denmark and Switzerland. We also have Georgia, and we’ve struggled to beat them in the last couple of campaigns. It’s not an easy group but I think if we can get it going again, we can get results against all of them.

In this weekend’s action, McCarthy will have been pleased to see Conor Hourihane get on the scoresheet in Aston Villa’s 3-2 defeat to Leeds in yesterday’s Championship clash.

In Saturday’s League One action, Eoin Doyle scored in Bradford’s 2-0 win over Scunthorpe, James Collins netted in Luton’s 2-0 win over Burton while Ronan Curtis – under McCarthy’s watchful eye – struck in Portsmouth’s 3-1 win over Sunderland.

In League Two, Ryan Sweeney scored as Mansfield beat Stevenage 3-1, while Pádraig Amond scored twice in Newport’s 3-2 defeat at Lincoln.