Mick McCarthy hailed his current squad of players as the strongest he’s had so far and all 23 players got a chance to show their worth in Lansdowne Road last night as McCarthy made seven half time changes and a further five in the second half. "They all did really well," said McCarthy. "I tried to mix youth with experience and there were some mature performances from players of a tender age. They showed they can compete at this level. If not for this World Cup, certainly for the European Championship qualifiers,"
"There is no doubt this is my strongest squad. The players who came on the scene when I took the job in 1996 have all improved, individually and collectively as a team. And I include myself in that. We are all stronger and closer-knit."
Amongst those to impress was Colin Healy, the Celtic player who’s currently on loan to Coventry, he took the man-of-the-match award for his first half performance: “I could not believe it when they called out my name," said the 21-year-old. "To get my first cap is something else, but to play alongside Roy Keane is a dream come true. Not so long ago I was just a kid watching him on television."
Stephen Reid was another to impress as he opened the scoring with a strong low shot after 2minutes of only his second cap. Then there was Clinton Morrisson who showed strength and a good first tough while the first half front pairing of Robbie Keane and Damien Duff looked like they could cause problems for any defence leaving Mick McCarthy a satisfied man after a solid performance.
Filed by Johnny Proby
