MICK MCCARTHY TODAY addressed the off-field shambles that has befallen Irish football – he’s insistent that it won’t affect him or his players – but matters on the grass have been (whisper it)…really quite good of late. 

Shane Long has scored three goals in his last four games, Jeff Hendrick is back among the goals for Burnley, and Sheffield United are being propelled to the Premier League by David McGoldrick and Enda Stevens.

Domestically, meanwhile, McCarthy and Robbie Keane were among 6,500 people present at Tallaght last night to sample the League of Ireland’s latent potential, as Bohemians edged another fraught Dublin Derby by a Dinny Corcoran goal to nil.

Rovers lost Trevor Clarke and Lee Grace to first-half red cards. 

“It’s the best atmosphere I’ve seen at a game here”, McCarthy told The42. 

Both sets of fans were brilliant. Decisions changed the game. You see the Rovers team fighting with nine against 11. Bohs didn’t play particularly well then because of it, because they didn’t want to lose. Then [Dan] Carr comes on and could have scored; I thought he had an impact on the game.

“I’m there to watch players and they just don’t play the same when it’s 11 versus nine. It cocks the game up completely for me.” 

McCarthy was among those impressed by Man of the Match Danny Mandroiu, who has been involved with Stephen Kenny’s U21 squad this year. 

“Danny Mandroiu, I thought… he’s got something.

“Jack [Byrne] barely had a kick to be quite honest. He was chasing the ball most of the time, and I felt for him. I do like the ten [Aaron McEneff].

“He’s impressed me a couple of times for Rovers. I thought Bohs were doing well in the game but I don’t think they played as well with 11 versus nine as they did with 11 versus 11.”

Danny Mandroiu in action for Bohs against Derry earlier this season. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

Elsewhere, McCarthy confirmed that he has not been in contact with Leeds’ forward Patrick Bamford since the player told him earlier this year he is focused on completing the season with Leeds United, meaning he won’t be available for June qualifiers with Denmark and Gibraltar even if he applies for a transfer from England beforehand. 

“He told me he wanted to concentrate on his football, so I let him do that and he wanted to [finish] his season because he’d been injured.

“Let him concentrate on that and he’s no chance of being involved in the summer, because he hasn’t got his passport or his papers or whatever it takes to do it.

Leeds' Patrick Bamford. Nick Potts Nick Potts

“So the only chance he’s got is if he tells me at the end of the season and it could be September, October [or] November.” 

The onus is on Bamford to make contact now, McCarthy explained.  “I think I’ve reached [out] plenty. I’ve left it with him to decide so if he wants to do it then he can.”

Bamford’s lack of commitment will be made moot if Shane Long and David McGoldrick continue their fine run of form, although McCarthy was typically unmoved when asked if he foresees them playing together in the upcoming qualifiers. 

“If I told you that you’d be as wise as me… I’d have to kill you.

“He’s a striker, isn’t he? Some chump said to me, ‘Aw you’ve got to get two up front’.

“Fuck off. We played two up front in Gibraltar and hardly had any shots. We played one, well three up front, here [against Georgia] and had far more chances and played better.

“It was just a different game, one team sitting in and making it hard, the other team pressing.”

Mick McCarthy was speaking at the launch of the SportsDirect FAI Summer Soccer Schools. Book now on www.summersoccerschools.ie