St Patrick's Athletic 0 Tottenham 1:Robbie Keane scored. Chris Hughton and Brian Kerr hugged like they used to. Tottenham won and St Patrick's face no shame in defeat.
A well-served exercise all round. The hosts - their league game with Longford on Sunday notwithstanding - are nicely tuned for Odense's Uefa Cup visit here next Thursday.
The Londoners, in turn, journey to South Africa next, tinkering away before the other Keano welcomes them at the Stadium of Light next month.
White jerseys adorned with names of the Premiership's good and great swarmed outside beforehand.
Footballers are at their pleasant best pre-season, with the high-season "weight-of-the-world" syndrome yet to manifest itself.
Inside the ground, those white jerseys comfortably outnumbered red, and their heroes spent ample time scribbling and conversing with supporters wedged into the compact Inchicore ground. Martin Jol, the Tottenham manager, busily pressed flesh like a vote-thirsty politician, but his flashy smile was warm and unaffected.
Speaking of flashy, what's with the footwear? Not one of Tottenham's starting 11 donned traditional black boots. Funkadelic in the extreme. Reds and whites, it appears, are yesterday's toys, but Didier Zokora's extremely orange statement was positively frightening. Too much time on their hands these fellas.
Still, irrespective of the colouring, the ball glided sweetly from boot to boot as Tottenham were quickly into stride.
Although Barry Ryan was required to make seven smart saves inside the opening half hour, the locals stood their ground. With last weekend's stroll against Stevenage their only fall back, off-season Tottenham were faced with a game. The hosts, with an, ahem, arsenal of games behind them, swept the ball sweetly, the lush surface conducive to a flowing game.
Manager John McDonnell unleashed his new signings: Dave Rogers, Billy Gibson, Michael Keane and Keith Barker. Only Rogers commanded a transfer fee, reportedly drawing some €20,000 from chairman Garrett Kelleher's wallet. Tottenham, too, unfurled their new recruits; Darren Bent, Gareth Bale and Younes Kaboul totalling a measly outlay of some €52 million. The beautiful game, indeed.
Despite initial advances, St Patrick's were gradually forced deep and spent a good deal of the half on the back foot. Keane showed well throughout, tormenting a back four that at this stage were working overtime.
Adel Taarabt, we can tell, fancies himself a shade, the "Ronaldos" evident in his game. Stepovers galore. Still, he threatened often as Ryan will testify.
Keane, though, read the script minutes before the break. Those orange boots located his run and the Republic of Ireland captain stroked the ball past Ryan.
Dimitar Berbatov, Jermaine Jenas and Paul Robinson were off duty, benched and rested. Michael Dawson, though, played the second half and had his work cut out marshalling busy substitute Ryan Guy.
Colm Foley, who was stretchered off, found Tottenham impossible to penetrate despite honest efforts.
Kaboul and Lee Barnard both went close to a second goal before time on a now lifeless game was called.
They could, technically, still meet in the Uefa Cup, you know.
ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC:Ryan (Clarke h/t); A Murphy, Maguire (C Foley h/t, S Quigley 60), Paisley (Haverty 85), Rogers (Frost h/t); Brennan (Mulcahy h/t), Gibson, Keane (M Foley 70), Kirby (Macek h/t); Barker (P Murphy 70), M Quigley (Guy h/t).
TOTTENHAM:Cerny; Rocha, Kaboul, Gardner (Dawson h/t), Bale (Ifil 82); Malbranque, Zokora, Murphy (O'Hara 57), Taarabt (Maghoma h/t); Keane, Bent (Barnard 69).
Referee:D Hancock (Dublin).
