YEAH, this is all well and good Mick, but what are you going to tell the 10 new kids after you leave them out of your squad when the serious stuff begins with the World Cup qualifier against Lichtenstein on August 30th?

Mick McCarthy smiled his laid back smile: "Who says they won't be there?" Hmm. Interesting. That one was absorbed during the ensuing pause.

McCarthy added: "Some of those kids might be, there. There might be one or two surprises." Very interesting. "And I'd have to say I'd be delighted for them. They've fitted in and they've conducted themselves really well. They've not been out looking for a bevvy. They've got down in training and they've worked hard. They've been a credit to themselves and to their clubs."

They've also made quite an impression on the older guard, in which Niall Quinn must now be counted amidst all the baby faces. Quinn spoke poignantly of absent friends such as Dave O'Leary, and admitted: "I've a chance of being part of something else that might be very special."

A few other absent friends, still with us in spirit if not in body (some booing greeted the mention of Roy Keane at the interval) will be worried, admitted Quinn.

"I've spoken to one or two, and there might have been a few jokes flying around, but at the back of it all it's deadly serious. There's a few people who are worried, and who says that's a bad thing?"

Several of the new brood came on a further notch yesterday. Gary Breen looked quick and composed. Ditto Keith O'Neill, Curtis Fleming, Davey Savage and Alan Moore all looked more confident in their new surrounds.

McCarthy waxed lyrical some more. "We've had a lot of pluses. Breeney (Gary Breen) I thought had a very good game. We took him off because he had cramp. I thought Ian Harte when he went on had a good game - very composed. He's only 18. He's a baby. He's in our youth team."

The highly rated Harte, who nearly bent in an equaliser after a five man move of eight passes, became the 10th debutant in McCarthy's four games. None of this would have happened had Ireland qualified, but it's a fun alternative.

Throughout all of these games we've been reminded what it's like being those people who queue outside on the night of the Oscars. On the outside looking in. Having taken on one quarter of the 16 finalists, we can play the "what if game and although this, was an eminently more uplifting match, McCarthy wasn't quite so upbeat in praise of the performance as he had been after the injury time defeat to Portugal.

"I'm pleased we didn't get beat," was the typically cryptic start to proceedings. "Perhaps on reflection - Shay Given made a couple of good saves - we perhaps didn't deserve a draw today as we did the other night. You don't always get what you deserve.

"But I'm still pleased with the performance. I think there were a lot of tired legs out there at the end of the game. Sav (Davey Savage) had a good header and Cas (Tony Cascarino) had a good chance as well towards the end of the game. But they are a very good side, they are an excellent team."

Clearly, if marginally, he is more impressed by Croatia than Portugal. When asked what he liked about yesterday's opponents, McCarthy said: "There again, like all the teams - the movement, the touch, the passing, they're very quick. They pick the ball up and they run at you. They're a good footballing side".

"I can't say one's better than the other because we've scored two goals against them. I don't think it suggests that they are any worse defensively than Russia or Portugal. I like that team, they're a good side."

If offered a free £100 bet for charity, McCarthy responded: "Well I saw Russia are 16 to 1. They're in the hardest group, but it would go on to Russia.

Interestingly, Quinn revealed he had backed, the Russians at 20 to 1. "It must have been all my money that brought the odds down."