Lisbon is a lucky ground for Portugal - they've qualified for the last four major competitions by winning there - and there was probably a .0001 per cent chance that they would slip up on Saturday against Estonia. So, really, the evening at Lansdowne Road went pretty much as we expected: a nice finish to a great campaign, but having to settle for a place in the play-offs.

It is definitely, though, time to bang the drum for Mick McCarthy. True, Ireland aren't in the World Cup yet, but finishing second in that group, level on points with Portugal, is an absolutely outstanding achievement - I certainly can't recall a better campaign by the Republic.

If you equate 24 points from 10 games to a Premiership season you finish up with 91 points - that's the scale of what McCarthy and this team have achieved. I think we would all concede that Portugal were the best team in the group, they had the edge over us, but McCarthy and the players have got to feel aggrieved that seven wins and three draws wasn't enough to top the group - especially when you think that not so long ago the best second-placed teams in qualifying campaigns went through automatically.

It still astounds me that a month ago there was talk in sections of the press that McCarthy's job would be on the line if we lost to Holland in Dublin and finished third in the group. Unbelievable. Even before the final two games of the group he had done more than enough to justify himself, and he deserved plaudits for what he had achieved, not talk of his future being in doubt.

Never once has he sacrificed his principles, even when some doubted him. He tried out all sorts of things early on - three at the back, Roy Keane as sweeper - and he got one or two decisions wrong, but the important thing is he learnt from his mistakes and is a stronger and better manager for it.

"Thoroughly professional" and "Ireland" have rarely appeared in the same sentence before when it came to the management of the team and preparations and approaches to games, but thoroughly professional is precisely what McCarthy has been throughout this campaign. He has also managed to create a kind of club atmosphere in the Irish camp; there seems to be a fantastic spirit amongst the players and he's earned their respect.

When Richard Dunne was in trouble at Manchester City recently, for failing to turn up for training, McCarthy phoned him up and told him to apologise to Kevin Keegan and sort himself out. Dunne did exactly that, no doubt encouraged by a reminder from McCarthy that he risked missing out on a possible trip to the World Cup if he didn't get his act together.

He has a common sense approach to dealing with his players and consistently gets the best out of them, even when they're having a bad time at club level - Jason McAteer is probably the best example of that. The fact remains we have one world class player (Roy Keane), a few good players and a few journeymen, but McCarthy has got more out of them than most of their club managers.

Keane, of course, was awesome throughout the campaign, lifting the players around him by their boot laces. He has been outstanding and, along with McCarthy, deserves most of the plaudits being handed out.

The home win over Holland was, without doubt, the high point of the campaign. How they managed to muster a performance of that quality against opposition of that class and at that stage of the campaign I'll never know.

Of course, now they have to wait to see who they meet in the play-offs and what FIFA decide to do. To be honest, I don't think the players will be too bothered where they have to go, Abu Dhabi or Halifax, they just want to play football. Yes, maybe they might be nervous about where they have to go, but if there is even the slightest worry about safety there is no chance FIFA will order them to travel to Asia. Even in their most myopic of moments - and they have a few - they won't risk the safety of the players.

Wherever the team has to go and whether it is over two legs or one, I think they'll finally crack Ireland's play-off jinx. They're good enough, playing well enough and their confidence is high. Success in the play-offs would be an appropriate and thoroughly deserved ending to what has been a magnificent qualifying campaign.

In an interview with Mary Hannigan