From early on, McCarthy 'felt there was something brewing' with Ireland squad 

Crystal Palace and Ireland assistant coach Paddy McCarthy. Pic: Ryan Byrne

Early morning jogs are a constant for Paddy McCarthy on Ireland and Crystal Palace duty and the pace is accelerating for 2026.

Heimir Hallgrímsson along with his assistants John O’Shea and McCarthy regularly undertake runs during camp around their Castleknock base and the latter continued it while at Carton House this week.

His dayjob as Oliver Glasner’s sidekick brought him back home for a Conference League assignment they coasted through by beating Shelbourne 3-0.

That journey will continue into the knockout stages in the Spring, around the same time Ireland confront their World Cup dates with destiny.

Czechia in Prague on March 26 is already being planned for.

As are contingencies for the home playoff decider, three days later against either Denmark or North Macedonia.

“There's videos and Zooms and all sorts going on in the background,” explained the former Ireland U21 captain and B international.

“That's no surprise as we always do that about the next opponents. The process hasn't changed and we're already looking ahead to this March window with the Irish staff.

“We know it’s going to be a tough task. When we go to Prague, Czechia will be backed by a strong support and have some good players who, on their day, can hurt us. We’ve given them a lot of thought but our main focus will be on ourselves and how we can be the best version of ourselves.

“It will be a massive occasion if we can get past the Czechs to take the final back to Dublin one step at a time.” 

McCarthy was originally enlisted onto the Irish staff by O’Shea during the 2024 four-game caretaker spell.

His first media duties in the role didn’t come until September but were memorable for the conviction McCarthy spoke of in a group of players fatigued by losing.

Cynics were swift to mock his confidence when, days later, Ireland suffered an embarrassing 2-1 defeat at lowly Armenia, raising fears of another campaign being prematurely ended.

October and November entailed improved showings, culminating in wins over the top two seeds, Portugal and Hungary, to snare the runners-up spot and entry into the playoffs.

Were Ireland to emerge from the four-nation pathway, they’ll be grouped with co-hosts Mexico, South Korea and Africa at the showpiece next June.

“I felt there was something brewing when I first started coaching the squad,” former Palace defender McCarthy (42) reflected.

“When John (O’Shea) invited me for the Belgium game last year, I felt that it was a young, inexperienced team and probably just needed to learn how to win games.

“That's a long process for young players. They endure ups and downs, along with adversity, but I knew there was the nucleus of a really good team there. I felt they were on the cusp of, or close to, doing something special.

“But I also knew this campaign wasn't going to be straightforward.

“Armenia stands out in everybody's mind as a really down moment in the campaign but even after that, going into the next round of games I thought the performance away at Portugal gave everybody belief that we could go on and get results.

“I think we took that into the last camp and got the two results against Portugal and Hungary.

“A lot has happened in those three months and those three windows but again, I've got a real belief in these young players and they've shown the country what they're capable of.

“I now feel that the media and the public around the country are starting to really believe that these young players can go on and achieve greatness and get us to the World Cup in June.” 

And a fit-again Evan Ferguson will bolster their depth.

“That’s only going to create healthy competition,” he said after hearing of the striker’s brace for on-loan Roma against Celtic.

“Troy Parrott has taken his form with Ireland back to Alkmaar and Finn Azaz is scoring and assisting for Southampton.

“Hopefully, the boys are fit, healthy, playing well every week with their clubs and come in with a real confidence that we can go and get two results that will take us to the promised land.”