LOOKING back on it, Mick McCarthy, given the choice, might have picked a slightly less formidable run of opponents with which to start his career as the manager of an international team. But from the point of view of getting to know his squad he can have no complaints whatsoever.

In the first three games he has seen more of the peripheral players than he could ever have expected, but what he has seen in those outings will not have entirely cheered him up. For while there have been some very solid performances by the youngsters, none greatly leapt up in the pecking order over the past couple of months.

At the end of the day, though, when it comes time to put a team out against Liechtenstein in August the names going down on McCarthy's sheet of paper will have a far more familiar ring to them.

On the strength of what we have seen so far, Alan Kelly would just about get the vote in goal, with his far greater experience giving him the edge on Shay Given. The 20 year old has done a lot of good things, and he appears to have many fine years ahead of him but for the present, he is the numbers two.

In defence, assuming McCarthy decides to stick with the current system, Denis Irwin on the right, Paul McGrath in the centre and Phil Babb on the left looks to represent our best combination.

McGrath is still one of the best defensive readers of the game about while Irwin is such a great footballer that he would be able to overcome his unfamiliarity with a new role.

The other thing about Irwin is that when there would be no marking duties to keep him busy he would be a very useful asset pushing forward into midfield, which is something that our defence has not been doing in these friendly games.

The wing back positions would be taken up by Steve Staunton on the left and Gary Kelly on the right, although here, at least, there appear to be more options than in some of the other areas of the pitch.

This week's events having hopefully been consigned to the history books, Roy Keane would take the pivotal role in the centre of midfield - not least for his all round destructive abilities - while Ray Houghton, who thrived when moved into a more central role in Prague, would operate on the right hand side of him.

Houghton is still the most perceptive passer we have in the side and I think that if there were serious doubts about his position before the game against the Czechs then, for the moment at least, he has done enough to claim his place.

On the other side, Andy Townsend would be included for his power and pace and would operate with a licence to get into the box whenever possible in support of the strikers.

Up front Niall Quinn still looks to be the number one choice because, despite sometimes indifferent form at club level, he knows what is expected of him at this standard, and he links up very well with those around him.

That leaves the other striker's role which, in some ways, is what all of these friendlies have been about. Unless something remarkable happened, the players mentioned already were going to form the basis of the team to play in the first qualifier, with only the likes of Jason McAteer, who is also absent, seriously threatening to take one of the places.

Our inability to score goals remains a big problem, though, and I think that if David Connolly continues to produce the sort of form that he has shown over the past week then he should probably be given the chance to run out against Liechtenstein.

His style of play might also be well suited to playing against the weaker teams in the group with the way he hangs on the shoulder of the last defender and looks to get on the flick ons from his team mates marking him out as a gambler - and one whom we may have to take a chance on.

There is no doubt that he is very inexperienced and very raw, but at the moment he represents our brightest prospect and, assuming he continues to do well over the next few weeks, we should look to try to invest in his development by involving him in the team.

He will start to see what is expected of him when he is surrounded by `the big boys' as he should benefit from the experience.

For the likes of Kennedy, Savage, Breen, Farrelly and O'Neill the past couple of weeks have been encouraging, but they are players for the future if they turn out to be good enough.

It is good that they have been involved with the national team, and the opportunities for them to be involved again seem very bright. Mark Kennedy looks to be the most likely to blossom into a really fine player. Even in August we could easily end up being short of a couple of players through injury, and you could see one or two of the younger players coming in.

Tomorrow will be another chance for these players to demonstrate what they have to offer and there will be several areas that will be interesting to observe.

The Croatians are one of the most patient teams around on the international scene at present though, and with players like Slaven Bilac and Igor Stimac in defence, Zvonimir Boban and Robert Prosinecki in midfield and Alen Boksic and Davor Suker up front, they combine rare individual skills with an exceptional team spirit.

At this stage of their preparations they may well give something very close to their full team a start in this game and if they do that it will be particularly fascinating to see how our three central defenders cope with the likes of Suker and Boksic.

Against England, Croatia seemed to come and see what their hosts had to offer and, like Portugal against us on Wednesday night, they always seemed capable of stepping their game up a gear or two if they had to.

If they do decide to go out and perform rather than simply looking to come through the match without any injury problems then it is likely to be our toughest test so far.

It will also be interesting to see how patient the crowd remain if the game doesn't go our way. So far they have been very positive about the new manager, the new system and the new personnel, but they will want to see all the changes bringing back the old results.

(In an interview with Emmet Malone)