McCarthy trumps the media

Mick McCarthy's early announcement that he would be sticking with the same team which took on the Netherlands for Saturday's game against Portugal effectively scuppered the traditional match-week game of cat and mouse between manager and media.

So there was some serious scratching around going on at the Irish team hotel yesterday as reporters fretted over the best ways of filling the column inches. With Ireland's only injury worry, Alan Kelly, just about certain to play, and Roy Keane performing a "better late than never" arrival at the camp, the second of the week's press conferences was short, sweet and singularly uneventful.

McCarthy, who was clearly amused at the scrum of media people who surrounded Keane, described the Corkman's late arrival as a "storm in a teacup" and put the whole thing down to a misunderstanding which arose out of the failure of somebody in the FAI to pass on a telephone message.

Asked about Kelly, who has been training with the rest of the squad but not taking kick-outs, the Ireland coach said that he was happy with the goalkeeper's progress and was confident he would play.

"He's fine, he's trained a couple of times now without any problems but I don't want to push him too hard. The important thing is that he's fit and ready for Saturday and the way things are going I don't think there's going to be any problem on that score."

Meanwhile, as the under-21 panel assembled yesterday for their European Championship qualifier against Portugal on Friday, coach Don Givens said that he was hoping his side would continue to show the sort of improvement produced against the Netherlands in Nijmegan last month.

"I was happy with the way we played," said Givens of the game in which the Irish lost 0-2. "The hope this time is that we will be able to carry it forward into the final third of the pitch because in Holland that was an area where we never really managed to cause our opponents any difficulties."

Asked about the omission from the squad of Shelbourne striker Richie Foran, who has been performing well at club level, Givens, who will name his team today, pointed to the 20-year-old's disciplinary record as the main factor behind the decision to leave him out.

"He showed in the game against Arsenal that he has something to offer us but if I'm not mistaken he's been sent off twice in soccer matches and once in a GAA match since then," he said.

In this week's game Givens' team will be looking to overturn a 3-0 defeat inflicted by the Portuguese in the last group game of the Toulon tournament.