McCarthy speak

"I could come in after a game like that and say that it was awful, it was bobbins, we didn't play well, we didn't get great crosses…

"I could come in after a game like that and say that it was awful, it was bobbins, we didn't play well, we didn't get great crosses in, we could have scored more goals, we were pure ****. I could say that, but I'm not going to."

- After the 3-1 win over Andorra in April.

"I think the words 'oh shit' flashed in."

- On his reaction when Lidefons Lima scored for Andorra at Lansdowne.

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"If he can't find a club I'll bare my backside in Burton's window."

- On Jason McAteer's transfer prospects after the Dutch game at Lansdowne. Thanks be to the Lord Almighty, Sunderland signed him soon after.

"If you want to describe them as that. but. I wonder about heroes. Heroes are people who die in wars for countries and that - but (we have) very committed performers. In a football sense I agree with you, yeah."

- On being asked if he regarded his players as "heroes" after qualification.

"The 'ard man's gone soft, eh? What do you expect?"

- After RT╔'s Stephen Alkin spotted a tear trickling down the Barnsley lad's cheek after the match in Tehran.