THE WITHDRAWAL of Paul McGrath and the doubt surrounding Steve Staunton has opened up a window of opportunity for some of the Irish team's fringe members. Amongst these are Kenny Cunningham, whose man marking abilites and all round composure have continued to blossom in line with his club Wimbledon.
After the season Wimbledon have had, Cunningham could be forgiven for wanting a week off. But he looks refreshed, bringing to mind Arsene Wenger's observation that Wimbledon's style of play may not be as much strain on their players as might be the case for other excessively busy sides.
Nevertheless, it has taken its toll on the team. "Since Christmas, we've blown hot and cold, especially in the league. It's to be expected. As people have been saying, they're bound to dip and realistically I think we knew we were always going to dip slightly."
Psychologically, as well as physically, the League Cup semi final defeat to Leicester was the lowest ebb. "One step away from Wembley, you can almost touch it. It was so close. We'd done a good job at Leicester with a 0-0 but we knew that it was going to be close as we hadn't scored an away goal."
On a personal level, Cunningham cites the confidence factor as the main benefit to have accrued from being a regular international squad member. "It's not so much performing at Lansdowne. But if you can train with the quality of players in the Irish squad on a day to day level, it just breeds confidence within yourself and maybe you're taking that back into club level, and have an input there. I don't think I'm twice the player I was but psychologically it's put me in a more positive frame of mind."
Ostensibly a full back, Cunningham admits that he perhaps best fits into McCarthy's 3-5-2 formation as one of the three defenders, preferably on the right. McCarthy probably agrees, given his apparent preference for full backs on either side of the back three. Developed at Millwall under McCarthy in the 3-5-2 system, mostly as a right wing back, Cunningham says, "first and foremost I am a defender. I think in that wingback position, although you need to be competent in your defending, going forward you have to have a little bit more about you. I think people like Jason McAteer, Jeff Kenna and Dennis Irwin have that ability.
"They have that little trick, they can drop their shoulder, whereas if I was to be honest with myself I'd have to say it's not really part of my make up. Defence is probably one of the strongest points of my game so as a result my best position is probably one of those three defensive positions."
Joe Kinnear, one of the English games outstanding tacticians on a match to match basis, has also employed Cunningham in specific man marking roles. Against some of the biggest names in the Premiership, Cunningham has won rave reviews. He picks out Juninho, with exhausting runs of 40 and 50 yards on or off the ball, as his best and most tiring opponent since beginning his career at the Home Farm academy.
On days when he didn't play for Farm's under age sides Cunningham was known to pop in next door and whip on a shirt for Na Fianna. There were even a few appearances for the Dublin minors. "I tried to play with a bit more finesse. I wasn't the out and out, shoulder to shoulder type, who gave as good as he got.
"I remember sitting in the dressing room before a minor game against Kildare in the first round of the championship. The Dublin manager put us in pairs and said: `right, give him a good thump there'," Cunningham recalls, laughing loudly.
Football was the family and neighbourhood game and a teammate at under 15 level with Farm was Stephen Geoghegan. "He's had no bother getting in this week to be honest, and I think it's a great compliment to the strides the national League has made."
Cunningham envisages more of a cagey, tactical encounter with the Macedonians than was the case against the defensively and physically stronger Icelandic side. "For half an hour in Dublin we struggled to get the ball off them. They've possibly more skill than Iceland."
He admits that the disappointing scoreless draw at home to Iceland has left the Irish playing "catch up", thereby making it important, if not imperative, to win tomorrow. "A win would rally everyone together for the Romanian game. The consequences of a defeat prior to the imposing Bucharest game were naturally too grim to contemplate.
