The draw looked tough enough when it was made but when the fixtures were actually laid out before him, Mick McCarthy must have been fairly daunted by the prospect of visiting two of Europe's leading sides at the start of his side's World Cup qualification campaign.

With one huge match played, though, and another to come this evening, it really couldn't be working out any better for McCarthy or the players he has placed so much faith in over the past month or so.

In Holland his tactics were spot on and the team were outstanding in just about every department. A month later you would expect he would be forced into a bit of tweaking here and tinkering there. Instead, he will almost certainly get the opportunity to field an unchanged team - something that international managers usually can only dream about going into crucial games like this one.

In fact, you would not lose too much sleep over whether Alan Kelly is definitely fit because, while his presence would be a bonus, Dean Kiely has shown himself to be a very capable goalkeeper over the past couple of seasons.

Elsewhere, though, it is tremendously important that the players who performed so strongly are available to step in again. Their confidence will be high, and after the game in the Arena there is every reason that it should be.

Of course, it would have been nice had Kenny Cunningham been fit to return for this game. The Wimbledon defender has become very important to Ireland over the past few years and his experience would be invaluable this evening. But in his absence Richard Dunne and Gary Breen sparkled a month ago. Here's hoping they can repeat the trick in Lisbon.

Neither, it must be said, is at the stage where one should expect them to cope in a game like this. Dunne, in particular, lacks the experience and the fact that they are not playing regularly at club level is a cause for concern. The fact is that players play to their level over time and if they play above it once then the odds shorten on them playing below it the next. With their self-belief soaring, however, and everyone else in the side on a high too, we can only hope that the pair build on the heroics of last month.

They'll have their work cut out again for, like the Dutch, the Portuguese are a wonderfully talented side with an abundance of talented individuals. Figo, needless to say, stands out, but it is actually the flexibility of those around him that poses the greater threat for the Irish.

At Euro 2000 I saw all of their games, and yet if you were to ask me to reel off their midfield formation in any one of them I would struggle to do it. Every time you looked at them they seemed to have switched things around, and every time an opposing team started to feel it had come to terms with the way they were playing suddenly it would all change again.

While they are exceptionally strong on the flanks, it is in the centre of midfield this evening that the Irish must take a grip on this game, for if the Portuguese are allowed to settle and get their passing game going then it will be a long and difficult night.

Roy Keane and Mark Kinsella, though, are capable of getting the upper hand, just as Kevin Kilbane, Robbie Keane and Niall Quinn have the potential to cause another highly regarded defence a good many problems. If both departments function as McCarthy intends then another result must surely be a realistic target; if not, then we are likely to end up hanging on, and when that happens against opposition this good it's generally only a matter of time before you make a mistake.

The Portuguese will have taken on board how well the Irish played in Amsterdam and, in particular, they will have seen the role played by the younger Keane. They will also have seen how many important players the Dutch were without and, given their own form at home over the years, they are unlikely to be unduly shaken about their prospects.

But it is still they who are under the pressure to deliver, and the Irish who go into the game with nothing to lose. This group is likely to be decided by these sorts of games, the showdowns between the leading three contenders, and after last month's draw McCarthy's men have the opportunity to strike another early blow against their rivals.

A point tonight - and let's be clear here, whatever happens this evening, a draw would be a fantastic result - followed by a win over Estonia on Wednesday, and everyone can come back in the spring to start the campaign's second phase with their heads held very high indeed.

(In an interview with Emmet Malone)