As Ian Evans again took charge of the team's preparations due to Mick Mccarthy's brief return home to England, FAI officials spent much of yesterday involved in something of a wild goose chase after receiving an anonymous tip-off regarding the eligibility of some of the Andorran players.

A fax, sent to the association's offices last week, indicated that two Andorran internationals, Justo Ruiz and Marc Bernaus, had previously played underage internationals for Spain. It also claime that four other players were not entitled to citizenship of the tiny state. Bernaus played against Ireland in the quarter-finals of the World Youth Championships in 1997.

After contacts with FIFA and UEFA over the course of yesterday, it appeared that the former charge, while actually true, is of little consequence. The Andorrans, it transpired, had received a dispensation from FIFA allowing them to use a number of players who had played for other countries before Andorra played in international competitions - Euro 2000 was the first tournament the nation entered.

Whether or not there was any substance to the latter accusation remained unclear last night, although FAI chief executive Bernard O'Byrne said that he would be making further inquiries. "My own gut feeling is that the entire thing is a red herring and we don't really like getting involved with it," he said, "but in the circumstances we have little choice but check it out. The aim now is to either blow it out of the water or get some substance on it within the next 24 hours."

The rest of the Irish party had a fairly quiet day yesterday, with Evans taking a light training session in the morning and flying on to their new base beside the Nou Camp stadium in Barcelona where McCarthy was due to link up with them last night.

Curtis Fleming returned to England after failing to recover from a toe injury over the past few days, while Richard Dunne was also suffering from a minor toe injury after cutting himself on Sunday.

"It a minor enough thing," said Evans, "it's just where the boot was rubbing against him, so it's causing a little bit of discomfort, but really I don't think that there's any chance of it affecting his chances of playing on Wednesday."

Robbie Keane later described the refereeing decision that deprived him of what would have been his eighth international goal as "terrible", but said that he hoped to make amends for his failure to get on the scoresheet in Nicosia tomorrow night.

Keane went on to pay tribute to the leadership qualities of his namesake Roy. "I think it was summed up on Saturday by his performance. He's a great captain, always trying to help out, whether it's up front getting a couple of goals or in some other part of the pitch.

"None of the lads want to make a mistake because they know that they are going to have Roy halfway down their neck," he added. "It's always intended in a good way, though. We respect each other out there and if you make a mistake he's right to point it out." Asked whether the Manchester United midfielder had levelled any criticism on the pitch in Nicosia, Keane laughed, "how much time have you got?"

Niall Quinn, meanwhile, said yesterday that he intends to be back in action in time to figure in Ireland's vital June World Cup qualifiers against Portugal and Estonia.

The Sunderland striker said that after consulting with his surgeon he was now confident that he does not need an operation on a back problem that has seriously hampered his ability to play for much of this season.

"The pain is completely gone now with the help of some yoga-like exercises that I've been going," said the Dubliner, "and I would expect to be back training within the next two to three weeks.

"The way things are looking after the win in Cyprus the Portugal game could be the key to qualification and I intend to be there."