New stars' glare hides dull truth

The game may have been dull enough but there were some bright points for Mick McCarthy to reflect on after Saturday's encounter with Mexico. Two to be precise, and their names were Damien Duff and Robbie Keane. If the Irish manager had another half a dozen coming through like these two, the future, his future, would look a good deal more positive. Unfortunately players of Duff's quality, in particular, are thin on the ground and there was little to suggest in the performance of the team as a whole that they have much chance of making it through to the next European Championship finals.

The emergence of Duff, though, does give cause for some longer-term optimism. At 19, he has already given us a few hints of just how good he will become over the next few years. Fast, agile, technically gifted and with a wonderful willingness to learn, the young Dubliner looks certain to become a great player, one of the type around whom an international team might be constructed especially if, as I suspect he will, he ends up playing through the centre of midfield.

Keane, though not quite as rounded as his international team-mate, also has considerable potential. He did well in this game, producing flashes of brilliance around the box on several occasions and going close to scoring late on. He looks more raw than Duff, though, and will probably need a good deal more help to continue his development. He has done well with Wolves but needs exposure to better players in the top flight.

Next season will be a particular challenge for these two players. By then their novelty value will have worn off and people will expect a lot more of them.

The fact that both have been rested by their clubs regularly is encouraging and it would be nice if McCarthy also had the luxury of being able to introduce them into the Irish set up gradually. Unfortunately, though, he doesn't and the likelihood is that both will be asked to line out in the qualifying games against Croatia and Yugoslavia.

One player who might not be so central to McCarthy's plans by then is David Connolly. It is to be hoped that things will start to turn around for the young striker over the summer months but the fact is that, at the moment, he appears to a classic case of how it can all go a little wrong for a player who bursts onto the scene in a blaze of glory.

On Saturday he looked to have taken a few major steps backwards and will need to be playing first team football and scoring regularly at club level if McCarthy is to stick with him up front rather than opt for a partnership like Niall Quinn and Keane.

That Ireland avoided defeat in this game, and actually looked to be the better team for most of it, will help morale within the camp but there is still no disguising the fact that we lack the strength to cause good sides problems. The return of players like Steve Staunton, Denis Irwin and, of course, Roy Keane will help a lot but we continue to lack the flexibility to change things around when things aren't going our way, while the absence of really natural goalscorer is a problem that many, considerably better teams than ourselves, struggle to cope with.

On Saturday, the Mexicans looked like a neat and tidy side but not much more. Never mind the fact that they are ranked four in the world, that's down to the opponents they end up playing in central and north America. At the back they looked poor and we should have beaten them.

Once more, though, we failed to capitalise on a good deal of possession which, against the likes of Croatia and Yugoslavia, is likely to prove very costly indeed.

With luck, we may still manage to upset one of them and nick second place in the group but we would need to play a lot better than we have done of late to stand any chance of pulling it off. Looking further forward, to the next World Cup qualifiers, perhaps, the outlook would appear to be a good deal better, but McCarthy's problem is that he is not certain of being around that long.

A great many people said that following Jack was going to be a tricky job and that following the man who followed Jack was likely to prove a good deal more attractive. If Saturday was anything to go by, they look to have been on to something.