Good points outweigh the bad

Verdict? Could have been worse, could have been better. Just 11 minutes away from taking the three points . . . but in the end nearly lost the one. All of which meant the Republic of Ireland players weren't quite sure whether to feel bitterly disappointed or mightily relieved when the final whistle blew in Saturday's World Cup qualifier.

Most admitted to experiencing a mixture of the two emotions at full time but the overall post-match mood pointed more in the direction of contentment with a hard-earned draw.

"I'd have taken 1-1 at half-time, to be honest," admitted Niall Quinn. "They have some world-class players and they played very well in the first half - Shay Given kept us in it; if it wasn't for him we might well have gone in a goal or two down at half-time.

"At that stage it looked like we had a mountain to climb but we turned it around in the second half. For half an hour or so we were the better side and I thought we were the team that was going to go on and win it. There's a bit of disappointment that we didn't get the three points in the end, but they threw everything at us and with so many quality players they're a difficult side to keep out."

Ian Harte shared that view. After having a first half he will want to swiftly erase from his memory bank, the full back was simply relieved that the team was still in the game after 45 minutes. "We didn't play well at all as a team in the first half - there were lots of sloppy passes and we kept giving the ball away which helped create their chances. The pitch was quite sticky and it took us a while to get our passing going and in that spell they dominated the game.

"But in the second half we got the ball on the ground, started to play a bit of football and it was much better. Roy deserved the goal, he was brilliant for us today. I thought we might go on and win it then but they came back strong, threw on a few more attacking players and got the equaliser."

Mixed feelings, too, for Steve Staunton but, on the whole, he was satisfied with the draw that marked his record-equalling 88th cap. "It just shows how far we've come that we're very disappointed not to beat Portugal, but the important thing is that it's still in our own hands, we're still the team to catch in the group."

The Portuguese aren't too unhappy with their position in the group either but Boavista defender Litos was telling the visiting press corps of his frustration. "The result was unjust. We proved that we were the best team on the field against physically strong opponents but sometimes the team that plays better doesn't necessarily win the game. We had many chances but couldn't get the goal in the first half - when they got theirs it was against the run of play."

Goalkeeper Ricardo agreed. "It was difficult but we proved that we are superior. We created five or six chances in the first half but did not get the goal - then they got theirs from one happy launch." One happy launch? Maybe something was lost in the translation. Maybe not.