PREPARE FOR A CONN TRICK

McCarthy has to put his faith in the golden potential of precocious Brighton striker Aaron against Swiss tomorrow

IF you’re good enough, you’re old enough and Mick McCarthy must ignore the date of birth on Aaron Connolly’s passport and thrust the gifted Galwegian onto the Geneva stage tomorrow night.

Failure to do so could cost the Republic of Ireland dear in their quest for a place at the Euro 2020 finals, and would also cast a shadow over McCarthy.

So far, he’s in credit, with three wins and three draws in six qualifiers, but questions were asked of his decision to delay in Tbilisi on Saturday night before turning to the uncapped 19-year-old.

McCarthy cannot afford to play safe again, not with so much on the line. He knows serious questions will be asked of the Irish defence to smother the Swiss attack for 90 minutes, which means a goal must be found from somewhere, if Ireland are to extend their unbeaten record in Group D.

Other than set-pieces aimed at Shane Duffy’s noggin, Ireland’s best bet of a breakthrough lies with classy Connolly, whose lively late cameo in Georgia was straight out of Boy’s Own.

His pace, trickery and direct approach led to Ireland’s first meaningful effort on goal deep into the 90th minute. What might have been if McCarthy had taken a punt on starting the kid, or throwing him on at half-time when Ireland were huffing and puffing about in circles?

We’ll never know but as the Irish squad flew out of Tbilisi yesterday, McCarthy’s game-plan for the Swiss was taking shape and it certainly involves Connolly.

Asked might Connolly start, he said, ‘Absolutely, yeah,’ before expanding further.

‘Well, you’ve seen him come on and do what he’s done.

‘There’s always that, “Well, why didn’t he start?” Well, when you’re at the last 10 or 12 minutes, somebody who comes on like that can run in behind. If he’d started, he might not have been the same.

‘But we’ve seen what he can do and we might have to have a bit of help with him. He certainly won’t be a lone runner.’

McCarthy observed Connolly in training last week and made a call that the Brighton bomber wasn’t quite ready for centre-stage.

He may be revising that assessment now, even though it may be placing unrealistic demands on Connolly’s shoulders to expect him to thrive against a rugged and vastly experienced Swiss defence.

While Connolly was buzzing after his debut, the Irish players were collectively feeling sorry for themselves at how they played and McCarthy had to deal with some long faces in the dressing room.

‘They weren’t in there cheering and hollering and hopping because we’ve come away with a point.

‘But I’ve made it plain to them that I appreciate what they’re doing for me, for the team and for the country. Because they’ve grafted again to get the point.’

‘I asked them would you have taken four points before we started, beat them at home and draw away? They weren’t all saying yeah.

And I said, “Well I would”. Because that’s how you qualify, that’s how you win things. Winning at home and drawing away is not a bad recipe.’

As a players’ manager, who backs his players in private and in public, McCarthy wasn’t going to put the boot in over a 6/10 performance.

‘Those players have played well so far, you know. So they have a bit of an off day with the ball but they have done all the other stuff which has helped get us a point.’

‘If there’s any disappointment in the dressing room, it was our performance with the ball.’

Drawing away tomorrow would leave Ireland needing to beat Denmark at home in the final qualifier to reach the finals.

‘A point in Geneva would be a fabulous point. You saw how good they were in our place, what a good team they are, and now we’re going to play in their back yard. If you’re asking me would I take a point away – absolutely,’ said McCarthy.

How he sets up the team to chisel out a point is the challenge facing him as manager. He believes Connolly needs help up front, so does that mean playing two up top or, one behind in the No10 role?

Alan Browne figured in such a position on Saturday and could be asked to do so again tomorrow.

The loss of David McGoldrick is not ideal as he could have given the Swiss problems, but McCarthy confirmed yesterday the Sheffield United striker is not yet fully fit.

For the assignment against the smarting Swiss, Ireland will have less of the ball, and will need to feed hungrily off the scraps that come their way.

McCarthy will expect a reaction, and will demand a performance akin to that against Denmark in Copenhagen.

‘Players like playing, they want to play. And if you have played not as well as you thought that you should have done in any one particular aspect, then you will want to make it better the next time that you play,’ he said.

A long night by Lac Leman beckons and Ireland’s players, the young and the not so young, will be challenged far more than they were in Tbilisi.