The Ireland squad is set to link up for a training camp in Portugal on May 21 ahead of the matches in Copenhagen on June 7th and at the Aviva Stadium on June 10th.
McCarthy announced a 30-man provisional squad for the camp on Tuesday with many players involved in this weekend’s English Football League Play-Offs. He praised the commitment of his players to meet up at the Campus sports complex in Quinta Do Lag.
Speaking in an FAI TV interview McCarthy said: “I was delighted that Sheffield United won as it means the four players from there can come. There’s a bit of a dilemma of who is going to be there (Portugal) and who is going to be in the Play-Off Final. I’ve spoken to the lads who are taking part in the semi-finals and, not to put a negative on it, I said if you lose are you happy to come to Portugal and be selected and every single one them said ‘absolutely’.
“Winning the two games against Gibraltar and Georgia put us top of the group and has meant players are thinking ‘you know what, we may have a chance here, we may be at Euro 2020’ everyone wants to be involved in that and that’s great for all of us.”