MICK McCARTHY gathered his squad around him yesterday at Jack Charlton's old Monaghan hideaway of the Nuremore Hotel on the first day of a nostalgic week for the Irish manager. His testimonial game will take place next Sunday when Ireland play Celtic.
More recent memories of games in which depleted sides had to be fielded were revived, though, as the string of withdrawals already confirmed over the last few weeks forced the new Irish manager to draft in a couple of late comers to his panel.
Ian Harte of Leeds United, helpfully holidaying in his native Drogheda, was among 20 players to train yesterday while Tranmere's Liam O'Brien is expected to arrive this morning for a week's training of the kind that McCarthy has largely had to put behind him in recent months.
"It's been a busy few months but I miss the camaraderie, the day to day stuff with the lads," he said yesterday. "You'd hardly say that all footballers are great lads, I'm not like that, but, even though I'm enjoying the new job, it's nice to get back into the daily training side of things."
Yesterday's outing was productive. "We did a bit and played a bit of football and tomorrow we'll have a hard day and I'll probably let the lads rest on Wednesday. You can't push them too hard when they haven't been training for a few weeks," he said.
Apart from Harte and O'Brien who, McCarthy said, "were delighted to come," Ray Houghton will join up with the panel after this weekend's promotion playoffs in which he will be playing for Crystal Palace.
The former Liverpool player will be missed on Sunday at Lansdowne Road where it is likely to be predominantly the players who were used to lining out along side McCarthy who will figure in the starting line up.
"It'll probably be the lads who used to play around me but to be honest I haven't made up my mind. I might mix and match but we have a few good games coming up and a lot of people to give a run to and I can only play 11 men at any one time so we'll wait and see who is fit for this one later in the week."
Also to be decided in the buildup to the visit of Tommy Burns's men is the final travelling party for the trip to America but McCart by ruled out any great surprises, saying: "I have a good squad of players here who are available to travel so after that hopefully I'll just be looking for one or two extra bodies."
