So Mick, how do you feel after that? A grin. "That's like asking the guy who crosses the line first after 100 metres. I feel fine. I feel good. "Yeah, I enjoyed it. We played well in the second half and, I thought, deserved the win."

Robbie Keane? "He's an amazing young fella. Funny, I thought about taking him off (earlier) and bringing on David Connolly, but then I decided against it because I knew he was our best hope of a goal so I left him on - and he nicked it. Delighted for him.

"I'm not sure I'd agree that he was man of the match - I thought Ian Harte, Gary Kelly, Mark Kinsella and Roy Keane had excellent games - but there wasn't much in it."

Mentioning Paul Butler's unhappy international debut seemed like an unfortunate case of party-pooping under the circumstances, but it had to be done. How would you have coped with Jan Koller (as a player), McCarthy was asked of the Czech forward who gave the Sunderland centre-half a torrid 45 minutes.

"Well, I played my last international in 1982 and I think the rules have changed since then. Anyway, he might have given me a slap back - he is 6ft 7in' after all. "Paul had a difficult time in difficult conditions, swirling wind, against a giant - that's what you call a baptism of fire. He can do better, though, I know that.

"He was a bag of nerves before the game and that doesn't help make things any easier for him. I decided to take him off because I wanted to have a look at Babbsie (Phil Babb), now that he has a few games under his belt at Tranmere, and I thought he was exceptional in the second half."

Was the defence asleep for the Czech goals?

"`Asleep' is unfair. You have to remember that we hadn't been together for three months and only had two training sessions prior to the match so we were a bit rusty. If we had scored that second goal I would have been delighted, it was a fantastic goal and a great finish, although I admit we could have done more to stop it. But `asleep'? No."

Happy then with the win, one that looked improbable after the opening spell of the game, but the funny thing was the second half performance, in particular, served merely to re-open old wounds, leaving McCarthy wistfully reflecting on what might have been.

"We ballsed it up in Macedonia," he said, unprompted. "We should be going to Euro 2000 and beating a team that is going makes it hurt all the more."

So, you're not over the disappointment yet? "No. I don't know when I will be. It doesn't stop me doing what I'm doing and staying positive about things but no, I'm not over the disappointment yet. But on with the job."

Czech coach Jopzef Chovanec said: "Ireland are a much different side from the team we beat at him two years ago. They have made much progress and we knew they would be difficult to beat in Dublin.