Courage and caution are the words recurring most frequently in Mick McCarthy's team talks in the quickening countdown to this evening's European Championship meeting with Macedonia at Lansdowne Road.

In a situation in which the home team must win to preserve their rating as credible contenders for a place in the finals of the competition, McCarthy acknowledges the need to be positive in this, the last game of a marathon season for his players.

And with a team which includes two specialist wingers and a central midfielder, Mark Kinsella, with licence to invade the visitors' penalty area at every opportunity, he has undeniably given substance to that requirement.

Yet, even as he preached the gospel of adventure, McCarthy was counselling his defenders on the wages of losing concentration in their primary task of protecting Alan Kelly on his return to goal after an interval of 18 months.

"There is little or no margin for error at this level of the game - make one mistake and you're likely to be picking up the tab," he says. "Playing at home and needing the win, we've got to be prepared to chase the game - and we will.

"But that doesn't mean we can afford to take undue risks. Macedonia will play as they did on the last occasion they were in Dublin with a lot of people behind the ball but still geared for the quick counter-attack.

"They have a lot of strength through the spine of their team, play the game at pace when they want to, and unless we are vigilant we'll be hurt."

McCarthy's pre-match sentiments were much the same on the last occasion the Macedonians visited Dublin for a World Cup game in 1996, at a time when his rebuilding programme was in its infancy.

On that occasion, however, Jason McAteer's quick goal sapped much of the venom from a potentially difficult assignment, and in the end victory came with a degree of ease which had earlier looked improbable.

Now the hopes of a capacity 34,000 crowd will be that the breakthrough comes sooner rather than later, in the certain knowledge that, given time to settle, the visitors will prove abrasive competitors.

The popular conception of Macedonia as by far the weakest of the Balkan nations was not substantiated in two impressive performances against Croatia. It is true that the Croatians, sated perhaps by their achievement in reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup in France last year, have not looked nearly as formidable in this competition.

An unimpressive 3-2 win over Macedonia at Zagreb last October hinted at complacency, but that excuse scarcely obtained in Skopje last Saturday when, after going a goal down in the first half, the Macedonians came back to dominate the game.

"We watched a video of that game," said Niall Quinn, "and it reinforced what we already knew - the Macedonians are no mugs. They outplayed Croatia in a terrific 20-minute spell in the second half and could well have scored a couple of times before they eventually equalised."

That precious goal came from a name with unhappy connotations for Irish supporters. Just as he did last Saturday, Georghi Hristov, latterly of Barnsley, delivered the goal which gave his team a stunning 3-2 win over McCarthy's team in Skopje two years ago and he relishes the memory.

"The Irish were like tourists then," he says. "They came to our country for a couple of days expecting to pick up three points and then return home. But we gave them a shock and, as a result, I think they're now afraid of us."

Just to make doubly certain that his players haven't forgotten that dismal day, McCarthy has revised the local arrangement for the worst player in the daily training sessions. Instead of the traditional yellow shirt, the player singled out by his team-mates has been lumbered with one with "I've had a Macedonia" inscribed on it.

"I think that proves we got under their skin - we've needled them," Hristov says. "I read somewhere where Niall Quinn says he intends to burn the shirt after this game but, if we have our way, it will be around for some time yet."

In the vernacular, that is putting it up to the Irish. Hristov is also making much of the fact that the home team must make do without Roy Keane. "Keane is the complete player, one of the best in Europe and we're pleased that he's now missing."

Deprived of Keane's qualities of leadership, the home team looked positively threadbare in the recent game against Northern Ireland, lacking craft in midfield and utterly unable to find a way through a defence which, on paper, scarcely measured up to top international standard.

It is accepted that the added challenge of banking precious championship points will induce a different pysche now, but something more than that will be needed if they are to deliver on the expectations of the crowd.

In the first instance, it will demand improved performances from Mark Kennedy and Damien Duff on the flanks, a more positive contribution from Kinsella in midfield and, most important of all perhaps, the ability of Robbie Keane to get on the same wavelength as Quinn in the front line.

At 17, Keane has enjoyed the kind of season that is the stuff of dreams for those of his age. The price, in terms of wear and tear, has been considerable, however, and now the hope is that he can rediscover the verve of his early-season displays before taking a richly deserved holiday.

There is a theory in football that central defenders are never more vulnerable than when their team is attacking, and to that extent a significant responsibility weighs on the shoulders of Gary Breen and team captain Kenny Cunningham.

Almost certainly, however, the decisive duels will be at the other end of the pitch, and here the hope is that an early strike will establish the mood for a more rewarding game for the Quinn-Keane partnership.

Republic of Ireland: A Kelly (Sheffield Utd); S Carr (Tottenham), K Cunningham (Wimbledon), G Breen (Coventry), D Irwin (Manchester United): M Kennedy (Wimbledon), L Carsley (Blackburn), M Kinsella (Charlton), D Duff (Blackburn); N Quinn (Sunderland), R Keane (Wolves).