Game fails to match a great occasion

Republic of Ireland 1 Wales 0:Those GAA delegates who opposed "soccer" being allowed into Croke Park for fear that international games played on the country's greatest sporting stage would further boost the growth of the association's chief rival for young hearts and minds must have slept a little easier on Saturday night.

Ireland's narrow win over a remarkably poor Welsh side might just about merit the description "great occasion" but so dismal was the game that any watching kids who had previously been unsure about their sporting futures must surely have resolved to explore every available alternative.

Just as they did in San Marino last month, both the Ireland manager and a number of his players insisted afterwards that the points were more important than the performance and here the claim did at least sound a little less hollow.

Wales, for all their many flaws, are a major step up on the part-timers and Steve Staunton's men, even if it is not claiming that much, were manifestly the better side and clearly deserved their victory.

Not by any stretch of the imagination, however, could they be said to have been impressive.

True, Robbie Keane, Damien Duff and Stephen Ireland all strove with some success to inject a little creativity into the team's attacking moves while the Irish back four had little enough to deal with but the home side's passing was poor throughout and midfield proved an uncomfortably even battleground, particularly in the second half, when really the hosts should have been utterly dominant.

That they will have to do a good deal better if they are to achieve their stated target of taking six points from these two home games by beating Slovakia is pretty much certain. A stronger Welsh side than the one beaten here lost 5-1 to Dusan Galis' men in Cardiff late last year and while it wasn't at all hard to imagine how they might fold completely under a bit of pressure only young Stephen Ireland proved capable of putting the ball in their net on this occasion.

It was the 20-year-old's third international goal in his last three games for the Republic and, like the one at the Serravalle Stadium six weeks ago, it proved critically important.

Keane, Kevin Doyle and Kevin Kilbane all really should have added to the Republic's margin of victory but a substandard Welsh defence successfully rode its luck time and again as the Irish failed to make the most of the chances they made.

Fortunately, the visitors were guilty in this department too. Had Craig Bellamy capitalised on a blunder by Richard Dunne after half an hour there is really no telling how things might have turned out but the Welshman's run towards goal was disrupted by the need to beat Paul McShane after which he got far to close to Shay Given who saved with his feet. It was the last time in the game that the Donegalman was in any way seriously tested.

In central midfield Staunton partnered Lee Carsley with Jonathan Douglas at the outset with Ireland switched to the right and Duff playing alongside Robbie Keane in attack. The approach seemed misguided and the result was that the Manchester City midfielder looked lost while the team lacked any sort of positive influence where preventing the Welsh from playing generally proved a lot easier for the locals than actually using the ball to any sort of good effect themselves.

Just short of the half hour Staunton clearly realised things weren't working out as planned and, to his credit, he intervened, moving Ireland to a more central role behind Keane and switching Duff to the wing. The benefits were immediately apparent with Duff easily outclassing the much-hyped teenager Gareth Bale and Ireland finding space in which to roam just in front of the three Welsh centre backs.

Neither full back contributed nearly enough to Ireland's attack over the course of the game but John O'Shea did start the move for the goal with a low diagonal pass for Keane which the striker turned first time into the path of the advancing Ireland. Having swiftly left Lewis Nyatanga trailing far behind, the midfielder pushed the ball a little too close to Daniel Coyne with his first touch but the goalkeeper hesitated and the Corkman made the most of the let off, coolly taking the ball around his opponent before neatly side-footing home from a tight angle.

It seemed as though the reaction of the 72,539 strong crowd might really, as Staunton had suggested, take the roof off the stadium but they did well to celebrate while the opportunity presented itself.

With both Bellamy and Ryan Giggs deployed so far up field that they saw little of the ball and could, therefore, pose almost no threat, the Welsh never seemed likely to come from behind but for fully 15 minutes in the second half, during which Simon Davies finally started to exert some influence on the proceedings, they comfortably out-passed their hosts.

The Irish held firm at the back, though, where Paul McShane did well and twice came close to scoring after the game began to open up and Stephen Hunt's introduction for the slightly ineffectual Douglas had injected new vitality into the home side's approach work.

Looking less than completely fit, Doyle struck the post from outside the area and Keane then narrowly failed to connect properly with a low cross from Kilbane after good work from the 30-year-old.

With just the single goal advantage there was inevitably some nervousness late on, not least when Steve Finnan conceded a free by fouling Giggs within shooting range and Duff then appeared to shove the same Welshman in the back inside the area.

Giggs fired the free tamely into the arms of Given while the referee waved away the penalty claim and a few moments later the game was over, the final whistle greeted by the crowd as well, one suspects, as the Irish bench, primarily with weary relief.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Given (Newcastle United); O'Shea (Manchester United), McShane (West Brom), Dunne (Manchester City), Finnan (Liverpool); Ireland (Manchester City), Carsley (Everton), Douglas (Leeds United), Kilbane (Wigan Athletic); Duff (Newcastle United), Keane (Totteham Hotspur). Subs: Doyle (Reading) for Ireland (59 mins), Hunt (Reading) for Douglas (80 mins), McGeady (Celtic) for Keane (89 mins).

WALES: Coyne; Evans, J Collins, Nyatanga; Ricketts, Davies, Robinson, Ledley, Bale; Bellamy, Giggs. Subs: Fletcher for Ledley (half-time), D Collins for Bale (74 mins), Easter for Robinson (91 mins).

Referee: T Hauge(Norway).