Mick McCarthy is preparing his players for an exemplary exercise in patience in the countdown to the Republic of Ireland's European Championship game with Malta here in the Ta'Qali stadium (TV3, 5.30).

In three earlier visits to Malta, notably in 1983 when they had to depend on a late, late goal from Frank Stapleton for salvation, Ireland have always found it difficult to convert a perceived difference in class into goals.

The signs are that this evening's game may be no different as the home team seek to salvage something at the end of a campaign which in seven consecutive defeats has yielded an adverse goals count of 24-4.

"Our record may not be very good but we know what we have to do in this game to please our supporters," said Joseif Ilic, their Yugoslav coach. "I think it's going to be a very interesting day."

McCarthy scarcely needed the unsolicited warning but he seized on it to temper expectations of a goal rush among the thousands of Irish fans already assembled here.

"It would be lovely to think that we can put three or four past them but unless we get lucky early in the game, it's not going to be like that," he cautioned. "The Maltese are a proud people, they're not just going to lie down and let us beat them just because they're at the foot of the table.

"Don't forget, Irish teams were once in their kind of situation, perhaps with better players, but still trading on the same policy of shoring up things at the back in the hope of nicking something up front.

"Our players and the public, too, must be patient if we're to get the result we need. Great if we pinch a goal at the start - it will take a lot of the strain out of the job. But, realistically, we have to prepare ourselves for the job of grinding them down, however long it takes. I don't for a minute kid myself that it's going to be easy."

Surprisingly, the Ireland manager was not in a position to give any details about his team yesterday, beyond confirming that Niall Quinn and Robbie Keane will be the front men in a 4-4-2 formation.

It's true that the four casualties from the 1-0 defeat by Croatia - Steve Staunton, Kenny Cunningham, Gary Breen and Mark Kinsella - again missed training yesterday, but some may find in McCarthy's attitude disturbing signs of uncertainty for a game in which the strategies would already appear to be set in stone.

On his own admission, the quartet is expected to be fully match fit and available for selection, with Cunningham, Breen and Kinsella all assured of places in the starting line-up. That leaves Staunton and the rival claims of Ian Harte for the left back position, as the likely cause of the unexpected hesitancy.

Essentially, the equation for McCarthy is whether to go with the experience of Staunton or the flowing confidence of a youngster grown to full stature in the renaissance of Leeds United under David O'Leary.

Loyalty to those of his players who have been with him in good days and bad suggests Staunton; and yet the manager may find it difficult to reject the qualities offered by Harte who, in addition to discharging his primary duties with impressive consistency at Elland Road, has hit some spectacular long-range goals for Leeds.

Less contentious but still a cause of some deliberation is the left-sided midfield position where, in the absence of the injured Damien Duff, Kevin Kilbane made an important contribution to the win over Yugoslavia last week.

Duff was less than convincing in the 57 minutes he spent on the pitch in the Croatian game and from a situation in which the Blackburn player was once something of an automatic choice, the odds may now have shifted marginally in Kilbane's favour.

The task of the wide players will be to get in behind the full backs at every opportunity and McCarthy must now decide if Kilbane's direct running is more likely to achieve this than the superior ball skills of Duff.

Elsewhere, Steve Carr looks set to hold on at number two and Mark Kennedy, a fringe player for so long, will return with increased responsibilities on the right side of midfield. Kennedy's ability to strike from deep positions, as illustrated against Yugoslavia, stamps him as particularly valuable in a game in which sheer weight of numbers make it hard to play through the Maltese defence.

Important, too, will be Kinsella's running from midfield. With Roy Keane ruled out the Croatian game by injury, the Charlton player produced 95 minutes work which the Manchester United player would have been justifiably proud of last Saturday. And the point was no lost on McCarthy.

"Without wishing to make comparisons between the Roy and Mark, it's great to have two midfielders who look so comfortable on the ball," he said. "Even though Mark is now playing in a lower division, his standards have not dropped. And looking at him in our last two games, it's easy to see why Charlton were so desperate to hang on to him."

Josif Ilic, freed of many of the pressures now weighing on McCarthy, was less reticent in going public with his team. With the exception of the injured Joe Brincat, it contains all the established players who may have surprised even themselves by restricting Croatia to a 2-1 win at Zagreb just 18 days ago.

That scoreline caused a few raised eyebrows around Europe and testified to the fact that Malta are occasionally capable of producing the kind of performance which mocks their rating as one of the Cinderella teams of European football.

The experience of Brincat, a veteran of 81 internationals, will be missed in midfield but against that the home team can count on the know-how of the indestructible Carmel Busuttil who, together with defender John Buttigieg, survives from the team which lost 2-0 in Valletta in 1989, in the game which qualified Ireland for the World Cup finals in Italy the following summer.

Up front, Ilic has paired Gilbert Agius with the Nigerian-born Chucks Nwoko who, despite a big reputation, has still to score after 10 games for his adopted country.

Thus the battle lines are being drawn for a game which, despite the apparent discrepancy between the teams, is as important as any that Ireland have played in the post-Jack Charlton era. And if there was any doubt about that, the evidence is everywhere to be seen here on the streets of Valletta. Not for years has there been such a visible Irish presence at an away game with around 7,000 fans already in the city.

That is the authentic barometer of a football nation on the march once more. And while McCarthy derives encouragement from the fact that the Irish are likely to outnumber local fans at the game, he is also pleading for patience as the team sets about the challenge of breaking down a heavily massed defence in what is, essentially, a stark reversal of the roles in Zagreb at the weekend.

Across in Skopje this evening, another vital Group Eight game is being played with Macedonia seeking to avenge their 3-1 defeat by Yugoslavia last Sunday. That game will be watched on McCarthy's behalf by Mark McGhee, the former Wolves manager, who was a team-mate at Celtic.

A win or even a draw for Macedonia would be interpreted as a huge result for Ireland - but only if they themselves do the business and record their seventh win in as many meetings with the Maltese.

In the end, it may all come down to persistence and the ability of Quinn and Robbie Keane to swoop on any chances that may drop out of a defence prepared to fight a long, brave battle against the odds.