Dam bursts as touch of Klaas sinks Ireland

Rep of Ireland 0 Netherlands 4: Having gone out of his way to emphasise during the past few days that the squad he'll bring to Germany may be no stronger than the injury-ravaged one present at Lansdowne Road last night, Steve Staunton will be more anxious than ever to see Shay Given, Robbie Keane, Richard Dunne and Damien Duff back in action in time for what might otherwise be a very uncomfortable trip to Stuttgart.

That the Irish squad does not contain the sort of depth required to withstand the loss of such players is hardly a great surprise, but the extent to which his side looked lost in their absence must have come as a major disappointment to a manager whose first real test, the European qualifier against Germany, now looms large on the horizon.

Two goals from debutant Klaas Jan Huntelaar and one each from Arjen Robben and Rafael van Persie made this the worst defeat suffered by an Irish side on home soil since West Germany came to Dalymount Park and won by a similar margin a matter of weeks before making the final of the 1966 World Cup.

It will count for no more than the impressive win over Sweden back in the spring if the Irish can regroup and get some sort of result on Saturday fortnight, but there was little cause for optimism after the Irish ended up on the wrong end of a scoreline that in no way flattered Marco van Basten's young and confident side.

When the news broke last week that he had discarded Ruud van Nistelrooy and Mark van Bommel for this game, van Basten came in for some stick in Holland, but the former international striker's previous efforts to rejuvenate his side have proven well judged and, on the strength of this game, it would be hard to argue with his decision that Hunterlaar's time has come.

The 23-year-old was at the heart of much that the visitors did in the opening half and his reputation for coolness around the goal looks well deserved.

He looked to have bagged his first goal at this level after just 24 minutes, but the flag went up as he pounced to tap home after Paddy Kenny had parried Arjen Robben's shot.

No matter, he was back less than 60 seconds later to head home from six yards when, having gotten away with it once, the Irish poorly defended a Robben corner from the right.

Staunton had always said it would be on the performance rather than the result that he would judge the night, but during the opening half there was little energy or passion - the two qualities he had called for. And even allowing for the abundant talent possessed by this young Dutch side, it was difficult to credit the ease with which Van Basten's men were playing through their opponents.

Neither Steven Reid nor Graham Kavanagh afforded those behind them much protection in the first half, while none of the back four ever really got to grips with the passion or movement of their opponents.

Still, with Joris Mathijsen and Robben both missing clearcut chances to score from close range, the hosts might have made it to half-time just a goal behind had it not been for a costly error by Stephen Elliott.

The applause for a fine challenge by Andy O'Brien was still dying down when the Sunderland striker played the ball between two team-mates and into the box towards Huntelaar whose back-heeled flick set Robben up for a rather straightforward finish from 10 yards.

Three minutes later, when the Norwegian official signalled an end to the opening half a portion of the crowd booed as the players made their way to the dressingrooms.

Staunton may have been more understanding, but he could scarcely have been any more impressed than the crowd and his response was a radical shake-up with the Irish midfield overhauled, a striker replaced and changes on both sides of the defence.

The result, for a while at least, was a noticeable improvement - for having failed miserably to test Edwin van der Sar in the opening half, the home side started to generate some scoring chances.

Before long, though, they were being opened up at back again and the status of the 1931 5-0 defeat by Spain as the Republic's worst ever home defeat was looking under serious threat.

A goal for the home side might have steadied things somewhat, but their best opportunity came when Alan O'Brien first produced evidence of his enviable pace by breaking forward at great speed and then of his chronic inexperience by trying to take on the lone Dutch defender when a pass to either Aiden McGeady or, ideally, Kevin Doyle would have been the far better option.

Moments later, he got a lesson in how it should be done when Rafael van der Vaart passed up a shooting chance of his own to hand Huntelaar his second goal of the night on a plate - although the finish, it should be said, was coolness itself.

Jonathan Douglas, Doyle and O'Brien continued to look much more lively going forward for the Irish than anybody had before the break, but it made little difference and there was nobody on the bench with whom Staunton could shore up his crumbling defence.

Huntelaar set up the fourth goal of the night for Robin Van Persie who beat Kenny from the edge of the area 19 minutes from time after which van der Sar produced the save of the night - the veteran goalkeeper leaping superbly to push Andy O'Brien's header beyond the angle of posts.

Even had it gone in, a goal would have been scant consolation for the 42,400 supporters who had paid in to see the rout.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Kenny (Sheffield Utd); Carr (Newcastle Utd), O'Brien (Portsmouth), O'Shea (Manchester Utd), Finnan (Liverpool); McGeady (Celtic), Reid (Blackburn Rovers), Kavanagh (Wigan Ath), Kilbane (Everton); Elliott (Sunderland), Morrison (Crystal Palace). Subs: Douglas (Blackburn Rovers) for Morrison, Miller (Manchester Utd) for Reid, O'Brien (Newcastle Utd) for Kavanagh, Doyle (Reading) for Carr (all half-time), Kelly (Birmingham City) for Finnan (64 mins).

NETHERLANDS: Van der Sar (Manchester Utd); Heitinga (Ajax), Ooijer (PSV), Mathijsen (AZ), De Cler (AZ); Landzaat (Wigan Ath), Schaars (AZ), Van Der Vaart (Hamburg); Van Persie (Arsenal), Huntelaar (Ajax), Robben (Chelsea). Subs: De Jong (Hamburg) for Landzaat, Kuyt (Feyenoord) for Robben (both half-time), Emanuelson (Ajax) for De Cler (60 mins), Jaliens (AZ) for Ooijer (77 mins), Janssen (Vitesse) for Schaars (83 mins).

Referee: T Henning (Norway).