THE SELECTION of Ian Harte on his 19th birthday heralds the start of a new era for Irish football when Mick McCarthy embarks on his World Cup qualifying programme in Liechtenstein today.

McCarthy has dropped Phil Babb who thus follows in the path of Paul McGrath, the man with whom he formed a highly effective partnership in central defence in the World Cup finals two years ago.

Also in are three other players introduced during the extensive build-up programme - Shay Given, Gary Breen and the Norwich player, Keith O'Neill, who joins Niall Quinn in the front line.

To complete one of the most interesting Irish team sheets in recent years, Ray Houghton has been taken off the pension list and brought back to replace Jeff Kenna in midfield.

Remarkably, the side contains only four of those who started in the last competitive game against Holland at Anfield eight months ago - Denis Irwin. Jason McAteer, Steve Staunton and the captain, Andy Townsend.

It is less a case of the winds of change at work than the onset of a hurricane, and if the modest quality of the opposition accounts partly for what is essentially an attacking team McCarthy saw no need for lengthy explanations.

"Every one of the 11 players chosen had justifiable claims for places in the team and if I dithered here and there in arriving at it, I think it's the way to do the job for us now.

"There comes a time when you have to be bold, to spell out how you are going to play and who is most likely to do it for you, and this is it."

He would later admit that a couple of his selections were confirmed only after he had watched the players in training this week and though he did not elaborate on the point, he was clearly talking about the make-up of his defence.

It was after assurances from Packie Bonner, the goalkeeping coach, that reserve-team football at Blackburn had not blunted Shay Givens's reflexes, that McCarthy chose to dispense with the experience of Alan Kelly.

And he probably needed the evidence of the training sessions in Dublin to convince him that Babb's difficult start to the season at Liverpool was no mere aberration of farm.

He has chosen to go with a back three formation of Breen, Irwin and Steve Staunton with Jason McAteer and Harte playing wide down the flanks.

On the deployment, McCarthy said: "Phil Babb is essentially an out-and-out defender and had we been going into a game in which we were expecting to soak up pressure the choice might have been different. But unless I am greatly mistaken, Liechtenstein will not be pushing people forward in numbers tomorrow.

"Steve is more comfortable on the ball and in a game in which players will have licence to push on I believe that he is the better choice in this position.

"Any youngster would treasure the chance of playing in his first World Cup game for a 19th birthday present but, believe me, that's not the reason why Harte is in the team.

"I put him in against Holland in Rotterdam and, to me at least, he looked more like a man of 29 than a lad of 19. He was strong and composed and in that game I knew that Ireland had found a good player for the future."

Acknowledging that the decision to omit Jeff Kenna was one of the hardest of all, he said that the Blackburn player, like Babb, was a victim of circumstances. "Jason McAteer was the best right-sided midfielder I saw in the Premiership last season and to me he is the attacking type we need for this game," said McCarthy.

But perhaps the most significant selection in midfield is that of Alan McLoughlin. This will be the first time since 1990 that he started a competitive game and the first time he has been involved in a World Cup fixture since marking his arrival as a substitute with that dramatic equaliser against Northern Ireland at Windsor Park almost three years ago.

Nobody deserves a chance more and judged on his superb performances in America in June, he will complement Houghton and Townsend perfectly in the challenge of working the ball through a tightly knit home defence.

McCarthy was not altogether convincing when asked about the defensive qualities of his midfield formation, preferring to dwell on the extra attacking options which McLoughlin and Houghton give him.

That presupposes that Liechtenstein will again defend in depth and depend on the impressive pace of Mario Frick, the only professional likely to be in their starting line-up, stretching the Irish on the counter.

He may well be right but not if one is to take on board the defiant sounds emerging from the Liechtenstein camp. "We proved last year that we can cope with the Irish in defence now we will see how they react to pressure", said manager Diet rich Weise.

Back in that ill-fated European Championship game 15 months ago Ireland spurned some inviting early chances and then panicked when the scoresheet was still blank, in the last quarter.

The priority now is still an early goal but the hope must be that if push comes to shove and they are still awaiting the breakthrough at half-time they will keep their composure and self-belief.

Niall Quinn, more than most, has reason to avenge himself. How fitting it would be if he could turn the tables on his tormentor 15 months ago - Martin Heeb.