Mick McCarthy held no surprises after the withdrawal of Jason McAteer had forced him revise his midfield formation for tomorrow's European Championship meeting with Macedonia at Lansdowne Road.

Dismissing the option provided by Alan McLoughlin, he has turned to Wimbledon's Mark Kennedy to fill the right wing vacancy caused by McAteer's absence.

"Alan's capable of doing that job but in a game in which the onus is on us as the home team to go and create chances, I prefer to play an out-and-out winger," he said.

"When you have a good header of the ball like Niall Quinn in the centre it's essential to get good crosses in. And Mark is capable of doing that job for us."

It's the perfect end-of-season boost for Kennedy who is set for talks with the new regime at Wimbledon after a difficult season at club level. Since his move from Liverpool he has struggled to dislodge Michael Hughes, although significantly, he finished the season in the first team.

"I think that was down in part to the fact that I did well in Ireland's game against Sweden," he said. "It's all about confidence and after that match, I knew that I had nothing to fear in club football if I played to my potential.

"Playing on the right side of the pitch is a challenge for a left-footed player but it does have its advantages. Full-backs are not always comfortable against players who occasionally take the ball inside them."

It will be his first competitive start at Lansdowne Road since the World Cup play-off against Belgium in which he suffered more than most in a match plan which went badly awry midway through the game.

That and the emergence of Damien Duff cost him in terms of caps, but McCarthy was mildly irritated at yesterday's press conference after some of the questions had drifted back to the Belgian game.

"Why can't people be more positive and stress, for example, the quality of the goal he scored against Sweden. That was a brilliant strike which any player would be proud of. And I prefer to send him into Wednesday's game with that on his mind.

"I guess he'll always have a point to prove to some people until he plays consistently for two or three seasons. But he's nothing to prove to me. I know what he can do and this can be the game in which he vindicates that faith."

McAteer conceded in his fight for fitness after attempting to confirm his recovery from a calf muscle injury. While the remainder of the team worked out at Clonshaugh, he did some training with physio Mick Byrne before acknowledging that it was a futile exercise.

Undeniably, his absence takes from the balance of the midfield, the more so since Kennedy took a long time to adjust to his new role in the game against Northern Ireland. However, his problems in that match were aggravated by the state of the pitch. But now, at the insistence of the Ireland manager, the playing surface will be a lot more manicured.

The exceptions are Alan Kelly in goal in place of the injured Shay Given and Denis Irwin and Gary Breen who take over from Alan Maybury and Phil Babb, respectively. For Kelly, it's a chance to revive an international career which appeared to be set fair until the first in a series of injuries blew it off course two years ago.

Once Breen had established his fitness, it was always in prospect that he would regain his place in central defence alongside Kenny Cunningham who, in the absence of Roy Keane and Steve Staunton, will captain the team.

Nor is there any real surprise in McCarthy's decision to start with Niall Quinn and Robbie Keane up front. Like so many others, Keane has substantial improvement to find on his performance against Northern Ireland but the hope is that the added urgency of the occasion will bring a suitable response.

With Quinn deployed as target man, Tony Cascarino will start the game on the bench but the likelihood is that he will be introduced at some stage of the game to equal Paul McGrath's record of 83 international appearances.

More than that, a goal would enable him to join Frank Stapleton as the Republic's top scorer on 20, a target which may decorate what promises to be a special evening at Lansdowne Road.