So another chapter in the Republic's book begins tomorrow with what should be a routine win over the minnows of Gibraltar (if you seriously think their pitch will sway the result their way you really are clutching at the very last straw in the box) and a welcome return for Mick McCarthy. I don't think he ever really got the credit for that superb qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup (it seems Roy Keane single-handedly got us there) and to turn the absolute heartache of