And McCarthy has allayed fears over defender Shane Duffy and Glenn Whelan as he prepares to name his squad for the November double header against New Zealand and the Danes.

The Middlesbrough goalkeeper, Man of the Match against Switzerland in Geneva, has missed his club’s last two Championship games with a thigh strain. Whelan was left out of the Hearts squad for their scoreless draw at Livingston while Duffy missed Brighton’s 3-2 win over Everton but both are in contention for the Ireland fixtures.

Manager McCarthy has spoken to Randolph and offered this update to FAI.ie: “Darren is hopeful at this point in time that he will be fit to report in with the rest of the squad on the Sunday ahead of the New Zealand game.

“The Denmark match is three weeks away still and Darren is confident that he has enough time on his side to get over the injury and play for us in the game that can get us to the Euros.

“Glenn was left out of the Livingston game to rest him with Hearts playing so many games at present while I spoke to Shane and he missed the Everton game as a precaution.

“He got a kick on his calf in training and they felt it was better not to take a chance on involving him for that one but he says he will be fine for us.”

McCarthy was at that Brighton win over Everton as he considers Aaron Connolly and Tottenham’s Troy Parrott for inclusion in an extended squad to be announced at SSE Airtricity’s South Dublin headquarters on Tuesday.

“Aaron did really well again for Brighton in a striker role,” added McCarthy. “It was the sort of game where he didn’t get a lot of the ball but everything that he did do was very good and he won the penalty for their second goal just before he went off by getting right in behind the defender.

“Like Aaron, Troy Parrott has a real chance of starting against New Zealand and like everyone else in Ireland, I am looking forward to seeing him working with the senior squad and playing at this level.”

QPR’s Ryan Manning is also set to feature in the squad for the November games and will be watched in Monday night’s West London Championship derby against Brentford.

Alan Browne and Sean Maguire both had assists as Preston came from 2-0 down to beat Derrick Williams’ Blackburn Rovers at Deepdale on Saturday while Callum O’Dowda was highly praised for his Bristol City midfield role in their 2-2 draw at home to Wigan on Sunday.