Campaign trail: The defining moments

Jason McAteer's goal against the Dutch in Dublin: The Dutch already looked tired and frustrated but, with Gary Kelly having been sent off 10 minutes earlier, it still seemed that the best the Irish were going to do was draw.

A neat build up that included fine work by Roy Keane, though, culminated with Steve Finnan finding McAteer in acres of space inside the box and the midfielder showed astonishing composure to take the time he needed before burying his shot beyond Edwin van der Saar and into the back of the net.

Matt Holland's goal in Lisbon: For most of the game the Portuguese had dominated play and while the Irish defence could scarcely be faulted for their collective effort, the reality was that the home side should have killed the game off by half-time.

That, though, is when Matt Holland came into the fray for Niall Quinn as Mick McCarthy sought to make what was, for him, a rare tactical switch. The wide men pushed on and the midfield sought to get forward. However, the equaliser came from an unexpected quarter with the Ipswich man just given a little too much time and space on the ball about 30 metres out. He used it well, scoring his first international goal.

Niall Quinn's goal against Cyprus: It was Quinn's 35th birthday and after half a dozen attempts to break Frank Stapleton's scoring record for Ireland, there hardly seemed likely to be a better opportunity for the Dubliner to write his name into the history books.

Ian Harte's goal after three minutes took a good deal of the pressure off as it more or less guaranteed victory but the biggest cheer of the afternoon was undoubtedly for Quinn eight minutes later when the country's best loved footballer shifted his tally to 21.

Shay Given's save against Iran in Dublin: Goalkeepers have certainly had busier afternoons than Given did last weekend but few have proven more reliable when, after a long spell of inactivity, they are suddenly called on to make a crucial intervention in a game.

On this occasion, the save he made a few moments later was actually better, but as Mick McCarthy said afterwards the first had been made all the more dramatic by the fact that Ali Karimi's long run towards the box had seemed almost to take place in slow motion. Given's cause was helped by the fact the striker's final touch was poor but, for all that, his positioning and reactions were perfect.

Ildefons Lima's goal for Andorra in Dublin: One of the more bizarre moments with the big striker heading his side into the lead after 32 minutes and silencing Lansdowne Road. An Andorran corner was poorly cleared and Ian Harte then fouled Juli Sanchez. From the free, Justo Ruiz found Lima unmarked and there was little Given could do.

World Cup 2002:The qualifiers

Holders - France.

Hosts - South Korea, Japan.

Asia - China, Saudi Arabia.

Africa - South Africa, Cameroon, Senegal, Tunisia, Nigeria.

Central America - Costa Rica, United States, Mexico.

South America - Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador, Brazil.

Europe - Poland, Sweden, Spain, Russia, Portugal, Denmark, Croatia, Italy, England, Slovenia, Turkey, Belgium, Germany, Republic of Ireland.

Final qualifier

Australia or Uruguay.

November 28th: Seedings announced.

December 1st: Group draw.