February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Sean Creedon
Mick McCarthy says that his future as Republic of Ireland team manager depends on whether the team qualify for next year’s World Cup finals.
Speaking to Paul Kimmage in the Sunday Independent, McCarthy said: "If we qualify, I will be here until after the World Cup. If we don’t, I think, rightly or wrongly I’ll be gone. When the job at Manchester City came up recently, I was told there were all sorts of reports in the papers of FAI people saying ‘hands off our bright young manager; he is under contract and is not going nowhere.’ But that could change very quickly in a matter of four months.
"I would love to manage Manchester City [the job went to Kevin Keegan], but, to be honest, I haven’t really given it much thought."
McCarthy’s only managerial experience at club level was with Millwall before replacing Jack Charlton as Ireland’s international manager in February 1996. He has now been in charge for 52 games, but has yet to get The Republic to a major final. However, to be fair, it was much easier when Big Jack was in charge with the top two countries in each group qualifying for the World Cup.
Meanwhile, despite a run of six defeats the Irish Football Association are willing to offer a new contract to Sammy McIlroy. They feel that McIlroy has made progress in the last 18 months and are hoping to sit down with him in August to hammer out a new deal.
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Back door opens
The GAA has confirmed dates for the All-Ireland football championship qualifiers — that is the series for teams knocked out in the early rounds. The draw for Round Two will take place on June 17, with the games being played on June 23 and 30. The draw for Round Three will be made on July 1, with the games being played on July 7. And the draw for Round Four will be made on July 8, with the games being played on July 21-22.
With the back door fully open in football, there will be an additionals 29 football games this year.
Italy can wait
The FAI have had to turn down the offer of a game against Italy on Sept. 5. The Italian FA offered to play The Republic in a friendly in Rome, but the FAI had to decline because the vital World Cup qualifier against Holland will be contested on Sept 1.
Mick McCarthy didn’t want any distractions in the minds of the players in the build-up to the Holland game. Now the game may be fixed for next spring.
Dubs’ Robertson ready
Good news for Dublin in the run-up to Sunday’s Leinster semifinal against Offaly at Croke Park: Ian Robertson played part of a challenge game against Cavan last week and should be in contention for a place in the starting XV on Sunday. The Leinster championship is very open this year and it probably will be a Dublin-Kildare final.
The bad news for the Lilywhites is that midfielder Willie McCreery has got a four- week ban after being sent off against Carlow. After watching the incident in replay a few times, I think McCreery was unfortunate to be sent off as he was only giving as good as he got.
Meanwhile, in Munster Kerry should book their place in yet another final when they play Limerick. The Kerry team is a fairly settled one, but a minor row has broke out in the Kingdom over the axing of sub goalkeeper Peter O’Leary from the panel. The Legion clubman, who has been second choice to Declan O’Keeffe for some time, has been replaced by Dingle’s Diarmuid Murphy.
Sean Counihan, a selector with Kerry in 1997, has spoken out. "O’Leary was part of the championship panel for the game against Tipperary and it is my understanding that you picked a championship panel to contest a Munster tie and that you could only change the panel to contest the All-Ireland," he said. "A course in management would not go astray with some of the present Kerry management as this is not the first time they have mishandled the dropping of a player from the senior ranks."