How McCarthy earned his shot at Swiss redemption

Garry Doyle halflength cut Saipan: The year was dominated by that single word. Chances are no-one in Irish football had ever heard of the place before but by the time 2002 was out, it was as infamous as the other distant battlefields young Irishmen had fought in — Ypres, Gallipoli, and the Somme.

Saipan: The year was dominated by that single word. Chances are no-one in Irish football had ever heard of the place before but by the time 2002 was out, it was as infamous as the other distant battlefields young Irishmen had fought in — Ypres, Gallipoli, and the Somme.

Compared to those tragedies, it’s crass to overplay Mick McCarthy’s personal war with his captain, and yet there is almost a duty to explain why 2002 was such a long, bitter summer.