Irrelevant exercise but a chance for players to shine

SOCCER IRELAND v POLAND: We should not be too concerned about the result; the game was nothing like Ireland will experience when qualification restarts, writes Brian Kerr,soccer analyst

A GREAT atmosphere at Croke Park, enlivened by our Polish community who hardly needed the early goal to find their voice. They certainly inspired their fellow countrymen into a fine performance, taking over the old GAA stadium last night.

And yet, it's hard not to feel this was a fairly irrelevant exercise in the greater scheme of things. Better the unbeaten tag under Giovanni Trapattoni is taken away in such a fixture.

Let's not get too overly concerned about the result last night; the game was nothing like Ireland will experience when qualification resumes. It was an open, attacking contest with the possibility of a goal chance seemingly behind every play.

So what was this all about? It was a chance for players to shine. For Ireland to expand their options when the inevitable injuries pay us a visit. Darron Gibson and Caleb Folan can both be satisfied that they almost ticked these boxes. Keith Andrews came in, got a big tackle in, and bagged a goal in the crazy finale.

Mariusz Lewandowski's third-minute goal certainly sparked a more adventurous, gung ho even, approach from midfield and the now rare sight of at least one overlapping Irish full back, Paul McShane.

In mitigation, we always looked capable of conceding a second goal on the break. But the benefit of Lewandowski stealing in ahead of John O'Shea and Folan for the goal was plain to see as the Trapattoni style was forced to change, sending more players into attacking positions.

Glenn Whelan and Gibson may not be the long-term solution in the middle of the park but they coped well early on in the face of a three man Polish midfield. The wingers also got wide quickly when Ireland won the ball back but crucially the intensity of their industry weakened their finishing.

Despite the concession of the goal there was plenty to admire in the opening half hour, with Gibson controlling the midfield tempo and delivering plenty of crisp, accurate service into the front two. He will be disappointed with his unfortunate touch that contributed to their second goal but has confirmed his potential to be a top player. An opinion regularly voiced by my late friend Noel O'Reilly.

Kevin Doyle should have had a penalty from a decent Damien Duff delivery as the visitors' loose defenders struggled until the interval. They looked dangerous when rushing forward, but the Poles were unstructured when dealing with the movement of Folan and Doyle.

We really should have got back into the game before half-time. Doyle, when dropping off, looked neat, as did Folan in his first start at international level. Granted, he was probably at fault for the goal but he recovered and posed a genuine threat.

Folan has vastly improved his touch since being the awkward teenager I saw at Leeds United. He was involved in Ireland's two clear-cut chances in the opening 45 minutes.

If anything, his all round game makes him another reasonable attacking option. Well, based on this display anyway. We should probably reserve judgment until he reproduces this form in a competitive international. For one, his body language doesn't do him any favours, especially when the ball isn't perfect and his touch became more ragged as the game wore on. But he remained competitive in the air throughout, if spurning three chances on the ground.

With Lewandowski sitting in front of the back four, Ireland struggled to break them down through the spine. We saw Whelan pushing on a few times but never any end product. The goal chances always look set to come from the front four.

Richard Dunne produced the usual moment of defensive brilliance. Granted, he made the initial error, but his recovery tackle as Pawel Brozek was about to pull the trigger oozed class.

The heads seemed to drop on concession of the second goal and Trapattoni sprang Alex Bruce and the Hunt brothers from the bench.

The Poles control of proceedings late on exposed difficulties we may encounter in Bulgaria and Italy.

Once the disciplined midfield screen disintegrated, when chasing goals, the Irish back four looked very fragile indeed.

All the more reason for Trapattoni to stand by his rigid system, with his current selection, when getting back to the serious business of making it to South Africa.