It was, according to the FAI general secretary Brendan Menton, a decent morning's work after yesterday's meeting with representatives of the Russian, Swiss, Georgian and Albanian associations produced the start, if not quite the finish, to Ireland's next European Championship campaign that Mick McCarthy had wanted.

McCarthy's team will, as he had always said he hoped they would, kick off their qualification bid in Moscow, but the process of give and take employed at yesterday's meeting required that his hopes of again playing both of the group's other strong sides away from home early on had to be sacrificed. Switzerland, probably Berne, will now be the venue for Ireland's last group match in October of next year.

"It went well," said Menton who insisted afterwards that "nearly all of Mick's objectives were achieved." With regard to the Swiss trip, he said: "I've spoken to Mick about it and he's not too concerned about it. He feels that if we end up going there needing a win it can be done."

McCarthy, in fact, said later that he would settle simply for still being in contention by the time that last game comes around. "Everybody knows where I stood on the first game, though. I'm delighted to be going to Russia first. If we get something there then great, if not we still have the chance of making up for it later on."

At yesterday's meeting the Russians had originally proposed that all of the fixtures be decided by lottery but after some discussion it was decided that such a system would be impractical. For a start it emerged that most of the group's associations faced some restrictions with regard to the availability of their home venues. The FAI have difficulty in September due to pitch maintenance as well as on each of the spring dates next year because of England's six nations visit to Dublin. Neither the Russians nor Swiss, meanwhile, could play at home in March or April because of the poor quality of their pitches so soon after the winter.

McCarthy hadn't wanted to play either on the June dates because of concerns about his players' fitness at the end of the long English season. None of the other associations were any more keen on June games, though, and so Menton and the other FAI delegates settled for homes games against Albania and Georgia as the next best option over the four-day period.

The UEFA schedule includes four such double dates but the fact that Ireland will play twice on only two of those and will not face Russia or Switzerland on either occasion was seen as another plus to come out of yesterday's bartering.

While McCarthy confirmed that he was pleased with the way things had gone at the meeting, the representatives of the other associations seemed generally happy too with Russia's assistant manager, Mikhail Gershkovich, observing that "the meeting was held in the spirit of compromise."

Everybody, he said, was conscious of difficulties connected with stadiums and the weather. "In the end we must play four matches at home and four away so it does not matter so much really."

Later Menton turned his attention to the 2008 finals when the FAI hosted the first meeting of the working party on the Scottish and Irish bid to host the tournament.

Representatives of both associations, governments and tourist boards were present as were the bid's full-time staff which now includes Dublin-based Diarmuid Smith of Andersen Consulting.

"Time is very tight and there is a lot to be done," admitted Menton after the meeting.

"There are significant issues out there, nobody is disputing that, but we're confident that we can overcome them and that we can mount a very credible bid."

He added that yesterday's meeting had presented an opportunity to gauge "where we're at" and that it had dealt with issues such as the bid timetable and budget. The group will meet again in a month.