Mick McCarthy was still making all the right noises yesterday after watching an automatic place in the finals of the European Championships snatched from his grasp at Skopje on Saturday.

Goran Stavrevski's explosive goal in the third minute of injury time to earn a 1-1 draw for Macedonia, coupled with the substantial achievement of a 10-man Yugoslav team in salvaging a 2-2 share of the points with Croatia in Zagreb, means that the Yugoslavs qualify as winners of Group Eight.

Now the Republic of Ireland must join England, Scotland, Denmark, Turkey, Slovenia, Ukraine and Israel in the two-leg play-offs, scheduled for November 13th and 17th. The draw for these, takes place at Aachen on Wednesday.

"Despite the quality of the teams who have made it into the play-offs, I believe we are capable of doing well against any of them on a home and away basis," said McCarthy.

"For instance, had aggregate scores been in operation for the group games, we would have beaten Croatia and lost to Yugoslavia, only on goals difference. And these are two of the best teams in the world just now.

"I don't pretend that we haven't made things difficult for ourselves by failing to beat Macedonia on Saturday. But at least we're still in the competition and if we play to our potential, we're still there with a realistic chance of getting through."

Israel apart - and the progress they have achieved over the last couple of seasons is substantial - every one of the nations involved in Wednesday's draw, has a proven international record.

From a purely footballing point of view, England would be the preferred opposition for most Irish supporters, a draw which, in ordinary circumstances, would ensure Dublin of its biggest sporting attraction in years.

In terms of security, however, an Ireland-England tie would classify as a Category One risk fixture, after the riotous scenes which led to the abandonment of England's last game at Lansdowne Road in February, 1995.

At the time, senior Gardai were on record as saying it was inconceivable that Dublin could host another visit by England in the short term. And now, four years on, there is little indication that the security authorities are ready to run with the risk of another meeting of the countries, particularly one in which a place in the European championship finals would be at stake. Bernard O'Byrne, the FAI's chief executive, takes the contrary view, however, and before returning from Skopje, he said he would not anticipate problems in presenting the game, if the teams are drawn to meet next month.

There were security problems of a different kind at the end of Saturday's game in which McCarthy was subjected to a tirade of verbal abuse after Macedonia's late equaliser.

Two Macedonian players converged on him in a threatening manner after the final whistle and despite the spectacular nature of their reprieve, the mood in the Macedonian dug out, appeared anything but conciliatory at that time.

"I've no idea what I did to upset them," said McCarthy. "But I've certainly never experienced anything like it in my experience of the World Cup and European Championships.

"As far as I'm concerned, however, that's the end of it. There is no question of my making a formal protest or anything like that. But it was nasty while it lasted."

Ironically, the evening had started with a show of unanimity with both sets of supporters in the City Stadium, observing a minute's silence as a mark of respect for Dr Tony O'Neill, the former FAI general secretary and a member of the Euro 2000 organising committee.

Another downside to Saturday's draw against an improvised Macedonian team, was the fact that Mark Kinsella, booked in the game against Croatia at Lansdowne Road, received a second yellow card which puts him out of the first leg of the playoffs.

And with realistic doubts surrounding the availability of Roy Keane in mid-November, that may leave McCarthy with significant problems in central midfield.