INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY Rep of Ireland 4 Oman 1:A GLANCE at the stands might have left any visiting FA officials wondering just how many fans their Irish counterparts might bring to the party in the event that they press ahead with a friendly at Wembley next May but at least they'll have been a little reassured regarding the entertainment their own supporters would be getting.
For the best part of the night here, Ireland’s second string producing a first-rate attacking show.
Goals from Shane Long, Kevin Doyle and Robbie Brady pretty much put the result beyond doubt by the interval and but for a fine display by the Omani captain, Ali Al Habsi, there would have been more.
At the back, Giovanni Trapattoni’s men weren’t quite so impressive and for a spell in the second half they found themselves scraping. Eid Al Farsi pulled one back without having to push very wide at all in order to round the back four while a couple of his team-mates also tested substitute goalkeeper Darron Randolph on his debut.
Overall though, it was a comfortable and highly satisfactory victory for Ireland, one that was rounded off in the closing stages by a fourth goal, this time scored from close range by Alex Pearce.
The quality of the opposition must, of course, be taken into account but after Friday night’s showing in Astana it seems best to seize on the positives. Oman, for the record, are no great shakes but there was still considerable encouragement to be drawn from the way in which a young and inexperienced Irish side set about their night’s work in a sparsely populated Craven Cottage.
David Meyler, Séamus Coleman and particularly Brady had nights to remember with the latter showing some of the cockiness Trapattoni and Kevin Doyle had talked about him possessing on Monday but a good deal of talent to back it up too.
If the 20-year-old Manchester United winger had a fault here it was his slight tendency at times to take a little too much on when other options were open to him but it seemed churlish to complain, as by the break he had had a major hand in two Republic goals and scored the other.
Trapattoni had expressed the hope beforehand that Brady and Coleman might show early signs of a rapport and he must have been pleased for the pair interacted to good effect at times. Coleman showed enough energy and enterprise of his own to reflect on the night with a fair bit of satisfaction.
Going forward from right back he was consistently impressive, seizing on whatever opportunities came his way to start driving Ireland into opposition territory.
And in the second half he was just as impressive when moved into central midfield.
Most of the time he showed a good eye for finding a well-placed team-mate, a talent clearly shared with Meyler who generally eclipsed James McCarthy in the middle third.
The young Wigan player was replaced just over an hour in by Simon Cox who assumed the same role before being helped off with a foot injury in added time.
But the Irish supporters got rather more worked up about the arrival of their favourite winger, James McClean who had barely taken to the pitch when he forced Al Habsi into a very fine stop with a long-range free and then narrowly missed the target with a spectacular volley.
With Paul McShane taken ill during the pre-match warm-up, Sean St Ledger stepped back into Ireland’s starting line-up and had an almost immediate impact.
Brady looked to have slightly overhit a high, looping free to beyond the far post but the Leicester City defender still managed to head the ball over Al Habsi and back across the face of the goal to Shane Long who coolly turned it home.
Just about every other set piece that the winger had a hand in was inch-perfect and his angled free 10 minutes before the break virtually gifted Kevin Doyle, who had won the free in the first place, his second goal in consecutive games.
In between those two, Brady bagged one of his own, the first of two from debutants on the night, when he fired a perfectly-judged volley on his weaker foot from 25 metres out low past Al Habsi and into the bottom corner.
The healthy lead gave Trapattoni room for experimentation and he made full use of the opportunity with only Stephen Ward and Stephen Henderson failing to get on at some stage. Marc Wilson and second half substitute Joey O’Brien did very little wrong.
All in all a positive night for the team and Trapattoni. And one or two, one suspects, will not have to wait nearly so long as the side’s next outing in London before they get their chance on a slightly grander international stage.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Forde (Millwall); Coleman (Everton), St Ledger (Leicester City), Kelly (Fulham), Wilson (Stoke City); Brady (Man United), Meyler (Sunderland), McCarthy (Wigan), Keogh (Millwall); Long (West Brom), Doyle (Wolves). Subs: Randolph (Motherwell) for Forde and Pearce (Reading) for Wilson (ht), McClean (Sunderland) for Doyle (61 mins), Cox (West Brom) for McCarthy (65 mins), McGeady (Spartak Moscow) for Brady (70 mins), O'Brien (West Ham) for for Long (73 mins).
OMAN: Al Habsi; S Al Mukhaini, Al Balushi, Al Musalami, Al Ghailini; Saleh, Al Muhaiyri, Al Farsi; Al Hosni, Al Mashri, Al Muqbali. Subs: Basheer for Al Muqbali and Al Hudhari for Saleh (70 mins), Al Jabri for Al Muhaiyri (77), A Al Mukhaini for Al Balushi (79 mins).
Referee: Andre Marriner(England).
