The 20-year-old Wigan Scotland-born midfielder found himself in the firing line late last season as international boss Giovanni Trapattoni expressed his frustration at injured players not reporting for duty to be assessed. Indeed, such was the Italian's annoyance at the likes of McCarthy and Stoke pair Jon Walters and Marc Wilson not heading for Dublin on more than one occasion that he left them out of his squad for last month's Euro 2012 qualifiers against Slovakia and Russia. McCarthy was ultimately drafted back into the senior party for the second game after initially reporting for duty with the Under-21s, and he is back for the Group B clashes with Andorra on Friday and Armenia next Tuesday. McCarthy, who opted to represent Ireland ahead of Scotland last season, said: "It was nothing, to be honest. I think people have maybe just blown it out of proportion. "There were maybe a couple of wee mix-ups here and there, but to be honest, it wasn't as much as people have made it out to be. Everything is fine. Me and the boss get on well, as everyone gets on well with him. Nothing has been said."
