MICK McCARTHY has no immediate plans to summon a replacement following the withdrawal of Ray Houghton from the Republic of Ireland's World Cup squad for the meeting with the former Republic of Yugoslavia Macedonia at Lansdowne Road on Wednesday.
Houghton became the latest victim in a deteriorating casualty list after conceding in his struggle to prove his recovery from a hamstring injury, which he sustained in Crystal Palace's game against Southend United eight days earlier.
It means that Jason McAteer is likely to be assigned a central midfield role on his return to the team, leaving the manager with the problem of finding a replacement to run the right wing.
Among the options open to him was the recall of Gary Kelly, the Leeds United player, whose international career has dwindled at a remarkable rate since the departure of Jack Charlton. In rejecting that option, McCarthy said he was satisfied that the vacancy could be filled from available resources. "If I bring in Gary, what do I do with people like Jeff Kenna or Denis Irwin," he said.
"Both of these players are capable of doing the kind of job which will be required on Wednesday, both are playing well enough at club level to have valid claims for inclusion in the team."
Coupled with the earlier defection of Roy Keane, Houghton's withdrawal is a substantial blow, the more so in the light of his invigorating performance in the demolition of Liechtenstein five weeks ago. From a situation in which he was living on borrowed time in the concluding phase of the old regime, he has prospered in McCarthy's system.
"Ray is no longer capable of filling the kind of role he had in the old 4-4-2 formation and I suspect, he would be the first to admit it. But nobody could fail to be impressed by the way he performed when operating in the centre in Liechtenstein. That was a class act and he certainly would have been in the starting line up against Macedonia had he been available."
The manager had better news of Andy Townsend, the team captain, whose recovery from a back injury was confirmed during a training session at Clonshaugh on Saturday and in another brisk work out at the same venue yesterday morning.
Gary Breen (shin), Jason McAteer (knee) and John Aldridge (ankle) are all under treatment and while the expectation in each instance is that the injuries will clear, it may be of some significance that McCarthy is now thinking in terms of a late team selection.
By his own admission, at least three of the players he would have started on Wednesday are all out of contention and in addition to the lingering injuries, he may still have genuine doubts about the make up of his best team on the night.
Not all of the injury problems are on the one side, however, and when Macedonia arrive in Dublin today the likelihood is that they will be without one of their key players, Darko Pancev.
Pancev, a former Inter Milan player who is now based in Switzerland, hasn't played for the last fortnight and preliminary reports from the Macedonian camp suggest he will not be fit for the assignment in Dublin.
Northern Ireland's troubled afternoon against Armenia at Windsor Park on Saturday served to warn McCarthy on two fronts. The new arrivals in international football are all deserving of respect and central defenders are never more vulnerable than when their team is attacking.
"Northern Ireland were caught on the break on Saturday, just as we were when Liechtenstein scored that disallowed goal in Vaduz," said McCarthy. "Football has now evolved to the point where you simply cannot afford to drop your concentration for a second or you'll be punished and it's something we must take care of in this game.
On the different priorities obtaining for Wednesday's challenge, he said: "We certainly won't be producing the kind of cavalier football we showed in Liechtenstein we simply won't be allowed to do so."
