MICK McCARTHY is likely to press for an early statement of intent from the FAI in the ongoing debate over the renewal of his contract as national team manager.

His current arrangement will come to an end when the Republic of Ireland's World Cup programme is over, a date which is now more uncertain than ever after Wednesday's 1-0 defeat by Romania in Bucharest.

For all the disappointment of the last three results in the qualifying series, there is still hope, limited but cherished, that Ireland can make it to their third consecutive World Cup finals in France next summer.

That, almost certainly, would lead to the offer of a new contract for McCarthy. The difficulty arises because, depending on the results of the next five games, his job could be on the line as early as November.

And that begs the question of how he should approach the closing phase of the programme, whether to go on gambling audaciously on youth, or row back and look to older, more experienced professionals to keep him in employment.

Many in his position would be tempted to opt for the second option. But the idealism of the man is such that for all the attendant risks, he may be prepared to go on entrusting his future to the players he has introduced to the team over the last 12 months.

The FAI's decision to offer him only a two year contract, criticised when it was first announced in February of last year and now seen to be more unfair than ever, is at the heart of the problem.

In the estimation of most, it wasn't long enough to enable him to bring a brave rebuilding programme to fruition. Now, at the half way stage of the qualifying series, it looks more unfair than ever.

Publicly, McCarthy is saying nothing about the matter, privately. however, he believes that the time is now right for his employers to state their support for his commitment to the younger generation of players.

Within the FAI there is, I believe, broad support for McCarthy. In the opinion of the majority of the association's policy makers, he is still seen as the best man for the job, particularly at a time when any other options available to them are not overly exciting.

The problem is that since the current contract still has some way to run, it does not yet figure on the FAI executive committee's agenda. And as yet, there has been no obvious sign of a move to fast forward it.

It may now be incumbent on them to show signs of real leadership and for the second time in just over a year, confirm their faith in McCarthy's ability as a worthy successor to Jack Charlton.

Defeat in Bucharest has reduced the margin of error to almost nothing for the remainder of the qualifying programme. However, in spite of the daunting tests ahead, a climate of self belief has re-emerged after the deeply disappointing defeat in Macedonia.

To some extent this is due to David Connolly's successful return to the side after an absence of almost 11 months. McCarthy is convinced that in tandem with young players like Ian Harte, Mark Kennedy, Gary Kelly and Keith O'Neill, Connolly can open the road to a new beginning.

"Here is a hugely talented player who has known hard times this season, but you'd never have guessed it from the way he played on Wednesday evening," he said.

"He's had contractual problems at Watford, but when he goes back to the club tomorrow, he won't have to tell them how well he played - they will have seen it for themselves on television.

"His club problems are none of my business and I certainly wouldn't presume to tell him what to do. But I've stated many times in the past that I want people in the national squad to be playing at the highest level."

On the other young players in the side, he said: "I went on record before the game as saying they were good players - that is why I picked them. If we'd have been beaten 4-0, I might have been crucified, but I believed in them - and I still do.

"That is not to devalue, in any way, the contributions of the older players. It's a long time since Steve Staunton played left back, but he was terrific. Andy Townsend, too, had a great match but for me, the revelation was a 35 year old named Ray Houghton who ran the game in the second half.

"There are a few people with pens poised who would have given me dog's abuse had things gone badly wrong. We lost the game, of course, but it's encouraging to be told that most people agree that I picked the right team."

On the second half incident which ended in one of the Romanian players writhing on the ground, he said: "It's not managerspeak, but I didn't see the incident, neither did the referee, nor his two linesmen. But of one thing I'm certain one of the Romanians spat in Tony Cascarino's face, immediately he came into the game.

"That kind of behaviour is despicable. It isn't in the Irish psyche to respond in kind, but when things like that happen, you do tend to take retribution, perhaps, unwisely."

The Irish contingent is still seething over the incident in which Houghton was injured by a coin thrown from the crowd and which was correctly denounced by FIFA's official observer at the game, a Spaniard.

The report of the match referee, Mario Van der Ende of Holland, is due with FIFA officials in Switzerland today and yesterday they were refusing to comment, pending its receipt.