SINCE he's enjoying the sound of cheers again, let's momentarily remind him of the jeers. If only to prove a point. It's 16 October 2002 and Fabio Celestini is about to shatter any morale left out of the moral victory that was the Japan-Korea World Cup. Ireland fold 2-1 to Switzerland at Lansdowne Road and Mick McCarthy folds his arms. It's all he can do against the din rising around him.

"Keano! Keano! Keano!"

At the time, it was seen as a sign that the war had been lost. Now, with hands having been shaken and a level of empathy reached, it can be looked at in a different but perhaps crueller context. A reminder that the greatest achievement of McCarthy's career, guiding his country to the World Cup, simply wouldn't have happened without Roy Keane. Whatever of what happened next, the matches against Holland, Portugal and, to a lesser extent, Cyprus dictated that Ireland might have delivered qualification without McCarthy but would never have done so without Keane. An unfortunate caveat to his keynote achievement.

And the same applies to McCarthy's club career. The brilliance of his promotion campaign with Sunderland in the 2004-05 season will always be burdened by the horror of his removal and impending relegation in 2005-06. The feeling from the first 14 years of McCarthy's managerial career – going right back to his first failed play-off with Millwall in 1994 – was that he was adept at instilling an initial spirit to take a side to a certain level but incapable of elevating them to the next.

Which is why this season is so important. Not only will survival for Wolves see McCarthy add another success to his CV in quick succession after last year's promotion, it will all have been on his terms and down to some very astute management. Yes, there's still some distance to go yet and Wolves have a tricky – if not quite tough – run-in but the most important aspect is that McCarthy has ensured they've rarely even looked like a team battling for survival over the past two months. Who would have thought that back in August?

Of course, the expectation then was that McCarthy would rather naively do what he did at Sunderland and what Tony Mowbray did at West Brom and not deviate too far from the formula which brought promotion. To his credit though – and with a tactical acumen only the most ardent McCarthyites had previously afforded him – he has altered approach completely. Wolves have gone from a freewheeling side to a hard-braking one. The result is that they've scored the lowest goals in the Premier League but are comfortably in midtable in terms of goals conceded and, most importantly, are actually getting results while proving to be very difficult to beat. The culmination of all this, and probably the key game of Wolves' season, was the 3-1 win at West Ham which brought a crucial seven points from three games and arguably assured survival. The cutting manner of Ronald Zubar's goal, in particularly, also helped destroy any clichés about McCarthy's uncultured approach.

Indeed, in reaching such a height, McCarthy has expertly illustrated the quality that served him most as Ireland manager: managing the very best out of mid-level players. For Kevin Kilbane and Jason McAteer, read Zubar and Matt Jarvis. Above all though, for all the justified appreciation of Kevin Doyle, there has been the cultured input of David Jones who has used his Manchester United rearing to register some brilliant displays in midfield.

Today, Wolves have one of those tricky fixtures. Stoke at home to go with Fulham away, Blackburn home, Portsmouth away and Sunderland home. Five points from those five games, however, is a reasonable target and should be sufficient for survival. By contrast, Hull must go to Birmingham and host Aston Villa and Liverpool. West Ham , meanwhile, with just four fixtures left after the day, have Liverpool and Fulham away and Manchester City at home.

Fail in those and the jeers this time will be entirely justified. But, with the spirited charge McCarthy is currently on, cheers sound much likelier.

FA Premier League: Wolves V Stoke City, Today, Molineux, 12.00