McCarthy happy key men are up for the match

While Mick McCarthy is always prepared to cut a little slack for a couple of his more experienced and established names, the manager has never sought to minimise the weight he attaches to the general requirement that, in order to play for their country, his players really need to be playing for their clubs.

So even though he has lost a few familiar faces to injury — the likes of Seanie Maguire, Robbie Brady and Harry Arter— recent developments meant McCarthy was yesterday able to declare himself broadly satisfied with the options available to him as the squad began their build-up in Abbotstown to Thursday’s Euro 2020 qualifier against Switzerland at the Aviva Stadium.