Republic of Ireland - 3 Canada - 0:SOCCER/International Friendly: Brian Kerr's first year in his dream job ended last night in the way it began, with an almost embarrassingly easy victory over a side that looked completely outclassed.

While the victory in Glasgow marked the start of the manager's ultimately failed attempt to transform the fortunes of somebody's else's team, this had his fingerprints all over it - with Andy Reid joining Damien Duff and Robbie Keane in the list of stars on a night when 23,263 supporters demonstrated their considerable loyalty by turning out to see a game few can have expected much from.

Duff provided what was comfortably the highlight of the nightwhen, on 23 minutes, he skipped his way some 70 yards and past three defenders before slipping the ball under Lars Hirschfeld from just inside the area.

Andy Reid's overall performance also helped to brighten a typically lifeless friendly, the young Forest player turning in a display that suggested there are great things to come from him.

He enjoyed it too, admitting afterwards that it had been, "brilliant to play out there in front of all my family. I didn't find it hard at all, the 72 minutes were great and it's left me wanting more."

And then there was Keane's contribution, one of his most cocky and brilliant best even if it was against a defence who were asking for trouble from the very first minute. And they got it in spades as the 23 year-old scored twice to move within three of Niall Quinn's record.

The scale of Ireland's comfort zone became apparent within minutes as Canada settled into a pattern that largely involved them chasing the home side around the park.

Almost immediately, however, the hosts were hit by an injury that deprived them of Graham Kavanagh, a cruel blow to the Cardiff midfielder who had spoken with such conviction on Monday of his determination to make the most of his long-awaited chance to start for his country.

The 29-year-old looked as good as his word in the opening exchanges, but not long after winning possession from Marc Bircham inside his own half, the Canadian midfielder caught him badly on the ankle.

For seven minutes Kavanagh struggled on, but barely 11 minutes in his fourth international appearance had come to an end with Matt Holland arriving on to replace him.

Andy Reid, meanwhile, performed so strongly in the other central midfield role that, on the strength of last night, you would be tempted to mark him down as having already displayed the class and maturity for which Kerr is currently trawling.

Reid's ability has never been in question, but before we get too carried away with last night's display we should probably concede that the question of whether he can make the step up from first division football remains largely unanswered after a match that was hardly any better than what he is used to.

For the moment, though, the 21-year-old can only pass those tests presented to him and he clearly came through last night's with flying colours.

If he had just provided Duff with the pass that started the run which led to Ireland's first goal and picked out Keane perfectly with a short cross for the second, Kerr might have marked it down as a successful night for the debutant, but Reid achieved a good deal more than that with the Dubliner's distribution and movement excellent throughout.

Just short of the quarter-hour he came close to opening up the Canadian defence for the first time with a perfectly weighted long ball for Keane and, six minutes later, he repeated the trick from closer quarters with only a poor bounce depriving the Spurs striker of an easy finish from 12 yards.

Keane, who afterwards described the newcomer's performance as "superb", obviously enjoyed the freedom he was given by the Canadian defence and, even aside from a first half strike that was disallowed for offside, he might easily have had more than his two goals.

Rarely has he looked more at ease than this, an almost casual but nearly successful attempt to catch Hirchfeld off his line from more than 40 yards in the second half epitomising the sort of form he was in.

At the back, one or two of the Irish players looked just as carefree on occasion, although the ease with which Kenny Cunningham recovered, entirely unchallenged, after slipping while in possession at one point underlined the complete lack of a competitive edge.

Richard Dunne made his presence felt to good effect when closing down Tomasz Radzinski and was regularly too quick off the mark for the Everton striker, but there were still a couple of heart-stopping moments around the Irish box, most notably six minutes short of the break when Bircham crossed from the right and first Paul Peschisolido and then Richard Hastings bungled their attempts to turn the ball goalwards.

In the second period, the Canadians also managed to have a goal disallowed for offside after Shay Given had initially done well to stop Peschisolido's header but the pattern of the game was no different with the Irish completely dominant and their visitors simply looking to cope with Duff, Keane and, to a lesser extent after he arrived on for Gary Doherty, Clinton Morrison.

It wasn't a contest they were ever going to win and Keane's two second-half goals - the 17th and 18th of his international career - were put away with almost comical ease, the striker first rising high to head home Reid's cross on the hour and then producing a trademark shimmy to turn on Rory Delap's long throw from the right and slip the ball into the bottom right corner six minutes from time.

It was all a far cry from the largely unproductive toil to produce scoring chances in the final group games against Russia and Switzerland, but, for a team in dire need of a transfusion of swagger, it may just have done the job.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Given (Colgan 82), Carr (Harte 45), O'Shea (Kilbane 88), Dunne, Cunningham, Steven Reid (Delap 61), Kavanagh (Holland 11), Duff (Thompson 88), Andy Reid (McPhail 73), Keane, Doherty (Morrison 45). Subs Not Used: Murphy. Goals: Duff 23, Keane 60, 84.

CANADA: Hirschfeld, Bent, Hastings (Fenwick 87), Bircham (Nash 79), De Vos (Rogers 82), McKenna, Stalteri, Imhof, Radzinski, Peschisolido (Bernier 75), Jazic. Subs Not Used: Dasovic, Stamatopoulos. Booked: Bircham.

Referee: M Whitby (Wales).