[MOD EDIT: Please link to sources. --adam]
i found this a very insteresting article written in the aftermath of irelands 2-1 defeat to scotland in May 2000.
"It is hard to know what lessons McCarthy learned from this pointless game apart from debuts for Stephen McPhail and Dominic Foley. His finishing line-up of Alan Kelly in goal and Babb, Richard Dunne, Stephen Carr and Terry Phelan in front of him; Jason McAteer, Kevin Kilbane, Damien Duff and Steve Finnan in midfield; and Robbie Keane and Dominic Foley could only be called a 'B' team at best."
6 out of that side one awful night nearly 5 years ago are now providing our hopes for qualification in 2006.... o how peoples minds and opinions change! It was also called Unrecognisable Irish beaten by Scotland!