The FAI officers were delighted to finally tie the manager to a contract for they have been hugely impressed with his stewardship in six years of managing Ireland.

Twice he led Ireland into play off ties for the World Cup finals of 1998 in France and the European finals of 2000 before finally achieving the big breakthrough for World Cup 2002.

But McCarthy admitted that Ireland’s achievements in the World Cup will count for nothing if they do not follow on by qualifying for the finals of the European Championship in Portugal in 2004.

Failure to do that will cost him his job.

He said: "I am committed to 2004 and I want to go to Portugal with this team. I think we have got a very good chance of being successful in the group we are in and getting to these Championships,

and if we do we’ll take it from there.

"It is a very fickle world that I live in and my slate starts again in September."

McCarthy, said farewell to Ireland’s memorable World Cup campaign in Asia with words of praise for all of his playing staff, especially the five who did not play in any of Ireland’s four games.

He said: "The players have outwitted the opposition and been terrific, each and every one of them. This World Cup has been a massive experience for me. I didn’t expect it to be as tough and as difficult as it was, being together and living in that goldfish bowl for five weeks."

He added: "The main plus points are the results and the manner in which we have played the games because we have been the better team in all of the games.

"Also, the way we have applied ourselves to the competition because at times it has been tough."

McCarthy admitted that the management staff had not noticed immediately that Spain had been reduced to 10 men for the extra time period of 30 minutes.

Albelda failed to appear at the start of extra time because of injury and Spain had used all three substitutes by that stage.

He said: "We were not immediately aware we were playing 10 men, but we wouldn’t have done anything differently. We couldn’t have thrown any more men forward or changed the way we played, or tried any harder."

He heaped praise on players who were clearly exhausted by the time of the penalty shoot out and said: "It was as good as any performance we have produced, against a very good side.

"I wonder what we’d have achieved if we got past them because we were equal to them if not better. I am claiming a moral victory, I don’t count losing on penalties.

"We may well have done irreparable damage to their chances of winning because they will be physically and emotionally tired after that."

Again he reiterated his belief that you cannot prepare for the mental strain of having to take a penalty in the circumstances that prevailed in Suwon and also repeated his belief that it was correct to leave the decision as to who took the penalties to the players.

"The players who missed penalties were inconsolable. They don’t deserve to go home with their abiding memory of the World Cup 2002 being of them missing a penalty.

"It should be how well they have played, how well they have conducted themselves, how much they have achieved in this World Cup and not one of disappointment."

He added: "I am bitterly disappointed because I know we could have won the game. It is a bit of a lottery penalties, you can toss a coin almost. I am very proud of the way the players played and very privileged to work with a group of players like that, they have been terrific."

He referred to the Roy Keane controversy in response to a question at his final conference in South Korea and said: "It’s a subject which I am not even going to discuss for the moment. The opportunity was there for him to play in this World Cup and he chose not to."

He lavished praise on the three players who announced their retirement in the wake of the competition - Steve Staunton, Niall Quinn and goalkeeper Alan Kelly - and said: "All three have made a huge contribution to football and to Irish football in particular. I have made a personal thank you to them for their contribution to my team throughout my six years in charge.

"Unfortunately Alan hasn’t taken part in it but Stan’s performance has been excellent, Quinny’s contribution when he has come on has been huge. It is a sad loss they are going and we’ll miss them."

He added: "We have lost three players but we are gaining some of the younger players who are only 22, 23, but have 30 caps between them."

He urged Jason McAteer to dismiss thoughts of retiring from the international scene: "I would

sincerely hope Jason is not going to retire. He is 31 and has still got plenty to offer."

* Spain skipper Fernando Hierro believed Ireland got their tactics wrong in extra time on Sunday.

"Mentally we were very strong," Hierro said. "This is a mature team. We did have to suffer in extra time because they continued to play a long ball game. Maybe that was a mistake.

"This victory will give a real boost to our morale. It will make us stronger."