MICK McCARTHY last night admitted he felt sick the day Kevin Kilbane was offloaded to Everton in a bid to ease Sunderland's financial troubles.

Kilbane will be in the Toffees' starting line-up tomorrow when the Black Cats travel to Merseyside for the FA Cup fourth round tie and it will be the first time the Irishman has taken on his old employers since leaving.

It is an occasion that pits the two biggest admirers of the left-midfielder's talents, McCarthy and Everton boss David Moyes, against one another and the Sunderland boss is in no doubt about who has benefited more from the sale.

Kilbane earned the majority of his 58 caps for the Republic of Ireland during McCarthy's international reign and there remains a lot of respect between the pair.

The 27-year-old looked destined to stay at the Stadium of Light last season, after starting the Football League campaign impressively, but Everton launched a £1m raid for him just before the closure of the transfer window.

And McCarthy said: "When Kevin played at Bradford at the start of last season he was terrific. It was such a performance that I still remember. That turned out to be his last game for us and I actually felt sick when he went because I couldn't do anything about it.

"It was a financial decision and he had to go. It was better for him that he went and he has become a better player with it.

"As it has turned out it has been better for all parties concerned. It now means George McCartney and Julio Arca are working in tandem together down that side. No one, including Kevin, is regretting it. But I would still have him in my squad.

"As soon as the relegation season had finished I knew I was going to have to let players go.

"But Kevin was fantastic. He wasn't one of those who was mooting he wanted to leave. Kev was one that was playing and wanted to play for the team and for me. Everton came in when he had one year left on his contract and it turned out to be a good for us all."

During Kilbane's four year stay at Sunderland he turned from hero to zero and was one of the players singled out by sections of supporters for the club's demise from the Premiership.

That culminated during the 2002 pre-season tour of Belgium when he stuck two fingers up to the visiting supporters in a controversial friendly with KAA Gent.

Even though Kilbane apologised, the Sunderland fans never really forgave a player who made 109 appearances on Wearside and he could be given a rough ride by the away fans at Goodison Park tomorrow.

And McCarthy said: "I would have liked to have kept him. I would take him now because he's a terrific lad and a great pro.

"I doubt he will get a good reception but he won't be bothered. It's a shame because he's one of the nicest men in football. He played for me in the World Cup and I can't say enough about him.

"I can't talk about before I came to the club. He always did well for me. He is hard working and gives everything. It's unfortunate when players like that get grief."

Kilbane still holds the time he spent at Sunderland close to his heart but he the fact Premiership status was lost in his last full season at the club still rankles.

Sunderland ended with just 19 points when they dropped into the Football League and Kilbane said: "The season we went down at Sunderland we had a lot of really, really good players but we let a lot of people down when we were relegated. We should have been too good to go down and we were but something went wrong.

"We just weren't clicking, we just weren't gelling and ultimately it cost the club. I certainly regret that season. It was a bit of an embarrassment to get relegated with that points total.

"We finished seventh in the league two years running and then fourth from bottom and then we were relegated with a record low points total. I can appreciate the lows but we've got other players in the squad who've experienced relegation as well and you don't want those statistics in your locker."

* Stephen Wright trained yesterday after a knee injury.

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