Mick McCarthy ‘not gambling’ with Vegas-bound players
Ireland might have back-to-back Euro qualifiers looming next month but Mick McCarthy doesn’t think it’s a gamble that, in advance of those big games away to Denmark and home to Gibraltar, his Irish contingent at Sheffield United are heading off to Las Vegas to celebrate the club’s promotion to the Premier League.
“They are going to Vegas on Thursday, coming back Tuesday,” he revealed yesterday.
“The way I manage it is ‘go and enjoy it’ because you’ve had 46 games in the league to get into the Premier League. Me telling them to do anything else will not make a blind bit of difference. I might as well embrace it and tell them to go and enjoy it.
“We have games when they come back and they are all in the squad.
What I don’t want is any of them to come back and play beneath what they did, certainly Didsy (David McGoldrick) with what he did in Gibraltar and Georgia, and Enda (Stevens), and John Egan who was excellent in training.
"Scott Hogan has come back and probably scored the goal that saw them getting up.
“I said to them, just because you got promoted, you have loads of games, loads of career in front of you, it can’t just end there, so make sure you’re ready to come back.”
Asked if he trusted the players, McCarthy replied: “I’ve got to trust them, haven’t I? What am I going to do? Sheffield United got promoted so they’re going to go away and enjoy it. I can’t imagine for one minute that two or three of them are going to be in the gym doing a bit while the rest of them are out doing what you do in Las Vegas. I think that is counter-productive in terms of managing them.
“To be fair, I spoke to Didsy today and we’ve got plenty of time when they come back after the Thursday, and his quote was ‘don’t worry gaffer, I won’t be wanting to do anything else. When we’ve had four or five days in Vegas I’ll be ready to come back and train and get ready for playing’.”
In general, McCarthy is not a big fan of the competitive end of season international, with all its logistical complications.
“It poses a challenge in terms of putting a squad together, getting the numbers right, some are in the play-offs, some are finished, some have won the league, some will go and have a holiday” he says. “It’s not ideal, it should be earlier, but that’s what it is, we will just get on with it.”
“I’ve done it myself,” he points out. “I went to a European Championships and a World Cup and I was perfectly OK. It was when I came back that I was knackered.”
As he prepares for the summer games, McCarthy has reason to be encouraged by recent performances by Irish players at opposite ends of the pitch.
Of headline-grabbing Bournemouth debutant goalkeeper Mark Travers, he says:
He was excellent against Spurs but not a surprise. He was outstanding in training (with Ireland), is a lovely young man and it was a great debut for him.
Another squad member, but with rather more experience under his belt — and, lately, a welcome return to goal-scoring — is Shane Long.
“There are some who just score goals and when they’re not scoring goals, you don’t get anything out of them at all,” he said. “But Shane is not one of them at all. But he will feel better about himself now.”
And then there’s the most experienced of them all, Glenn Whelan, already enjoying an international resurgence under McCarthy and now in the mix for promotion back to the Premier League with Aston Villa. But does his international manager think the veteran could really deliver another season in the top flight?
“(Against Georgia), I thought he was brilliant, I thought he was outstanding,” said McCarthy. “Whether he can continue that in the Premier League, would they keep him and would he be first choice? But he’s a really proper player, a proper pro.
“And, do you know what, doing that job in front of the back four in midfield, I thought he was very fit. What interested me was even when we trained he went off and did his own stuff afterwards. doing a little bit extra, topping himself up. He knew what he needed to do. It wouldn’t surprise me if they went up and he was there for a year.”
Republic of Ireland squad
Darren Randolph (Middlesbrough), Kieran O’Hara (Man United), Mark Travers (Bournemouth).
Seamus Coleman (Everton), Matt Doherty (Wolves), Kevin Long (Burnley), John Egan (Sheffield United), Richard Keogh (Derby County), Shane Duffy (Brighton), Enda Stevens (Sheffield United), Greg Cunningham (Cardiff City)
Alan Browne (Preston), Jeff Hendrick (Burnley), Conor Hourihane (Aston Villa), Harry Arter (Cardiff City*), Josh Cullen (Charlton*), Glenn Whelan (Aston Villa), Jack Byrne (Shamrock Rovers), James McClean (Stoke City), Alan Judge (Ipswich Town), Ronan Curtis (Portsmouth), Robbie Brady (Burnley), Callum O’Dowda (Bristol City)
David McGoldrick (Sheffield United), Shane Long (Southampton), Sean Maguire (Preston), Scott Hogan (Sheffield United*), James Collins (Luton Town), Aiden O’Brien (Millwall), Callum Robinson (Preston
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