Although David McGoldrick was deemed surplus to requirements by Martin O’Neill and has been in and out of the Sheffield United team of late, McCarthy has a very high regard for his former Ipswich striker.

“He is a player of wonderful ability, real top, top in terms of his touch, his passing and finishing. He really is a very talented player, gifted technically, and him and Murph (Daryl Murphy) were excellent. He was blighted by injuries, his family were living in Nottingham and I think he was spending a fair bit of his time in his car between there and Ipswich. I said to Chris Wilder (Sheffield United manager) to absolutely take him. You’d be bonkers, on a free transfer, not to take him, and they say the same things about him now.

“I know Chris and he likes to freshen his strikers up. Gary Madine’s playing and Billy Sharp’s just been brilliant scoring his goals. So he’s been mixing it up and Didsy’s just having to wait his turn. But, if anything, I’m cool with that because he’ll be fresh.

It’s not like he hasn’t been playing games. This season has probably been his best in terms of appearances, for a long time anyway. And he played well when he came on (against Sheffield Wednesday) the other night. He’s a good player, Didsy, a really good footballer.

And, despite appearing to be frozen out under the last manager, one committed to playing for Ireland, according to McCarthy.

“When he got called up he skipped along and came to play. I don’t know what happened with him not getting games, no idea, but whenever he was picked he was delighted, he was more than happy to go and play.”

While there were debut senior call-ups for Bournemouth goalkeeper Mark Travers, Newport County striker

Padraig Amond, and Luton Town forward James Collins, one of the more unlikely talking points arising out of McCarthy’s first squad was the appearance of Glenn Whelan among the midfielders.

And while the manager stressed that Whelan was not guaranteed a place in the final 23, the veteran’s recall does underline his continued value as an option to play the sitting midfield role, especially with a chronic lack of game time effectively eliminating the prospect of James McCarthy being involved in the opening qualifiers away to Gibraltar and at home to Georgia.

“He’s got to play some football, James,” said the manager, adding that the Everton player’s inclusion in the provisional squad was to let him know he hadn’t been forgotten after his protracted spell on the sidelines.

“I think he’s one of our best players but he’s not playing games. And I just don’t think it’s appropriate (to pick a player) if you’re not playing games. And I’ve said that to him, by the way. In normal circumstances, with him playing, he’d be a shoo-in for the squad.”

Assessing the other candidates for a holding role, he went on: “Conor Hourihane did it for Villa for a while but is better as a forward player. Alan Browne has got 12 goals so he is not one while Jeff Hendrick has been playing wide right and is another one who can get into the box and score a goal. Glenn is a ‘sitter’, that’s the job that he does.

“If there is a specific role in a specific game for him, he can do that job. He is fit and playing in the Championship and is playing very well so I am not going to dismiss him, that’s for sure.”

One thing McCarthy was quick to dismiss, however, was any notion that his players might be complacent going into the opening assignment away to the group’s minnows.

“No chance,” said the manager. “We’ll be thorough in the preparation. I’ve been and seen Gibraltar. I wanted to know what to expect so I can let them know what to expect. We will be preparing on the Astroturf as much as we can without playing on it all the time. Everything will be nailed down with regard to our preparation in terms of what I want to do, how we play and how we stop them. There will be no complacency at all.

“I can’t imagine why there would be in the squad of players that are there. They must all be wanting to come in to play.

“Based on my feelings whenever the squads were being named, I wanted to be in the squad, I wanted to come and play international football and to play for Ireland. And I would imagine all of those lads, I’m hoping, have exactly the same feelings.

“The same desire to play and the same desire to play well as part of an aggressive Irish team that people don’t like playing against, with the ball and without the ball.”