Quinn and O'Neill put an end to goal famine

HISTORY was cheated and the goals famine ended for the Republic of Ireland at Lansdowne Road yesterday when Niall Quinn's strike rescued them from the indignity of an unprecedented sixth consecutive defeat.

Ireland, for all their admirable commitment, were within 90 seconds of the precipice when the Manchester City player celebrated his promotion to team captain with the goal which gives Mick McCarthy valuable breathing space in his efforts to rebuild.

Alan Kernaghan's floated free kick was knocked down by Liam Daish and Quinn, in moments which contrasted starkly with his torment in the green shirt over the last year, was equal to the task of beating Drazen Ladic from close in.

It would be wrong to deduce from this assignment that McCarthy has honed a new cutting edge. And yet, two goals from an Ireland team is rare enough in modern times to give hope of the breaking of a new dawn.

Significantly, both emanated from high balls thrown into the box, and if there is a lesson to be learned in the stampede to conversion in the new gospel of sophistication, it is that not all of the Old Testament should be thrown aside.

Yet again, the emphasis was on possession, with the ball played laterally across the pitch. Some of it was pretty, but the perception for the final pass in the first half was rarely sharp enough to find the gaps.

From that point, however, the build up quickened, the ball arrived earlier to the front men and the scoring opportunities multiplied to the point where Ireland might have had four.

Whether that was down to a new sense of self belief, or to the Croatians taking their foot off the pedal, is a moot point. But the end product was a second half performance which belied the fact that this was merely a shadow Irish team.

The late defection through injury of Andy Townsend heightened the sense of foreboding in the countdown to the kick off, but the newcomers competed abrasively at all times and, in the end, saved a game which at one point looked beyond their reach.

Croatia, lacking only Robert Prosinecki of the team which they will probably take into their opening game in the European championship finals against Turkey, disguised weaknesses at the back to look impressively compact in the opening half.

Zvonimir Boban, of AC Milan, frequently looked a class apart from all others in midfield, Aljosa Asanovic fired some prodigious passes and Goran Vlaovic was getting forward often enough to hint at the disintegration of the Irish defence.

Thankfully, however, Davor Suker and Alen Boksic, at the front of the team, were less than economical with their chances and the home team prospered on a couple of hair raising escapes to play their way out of trouble.

It was, then, a gratifying day for the Irish, and if the hard core of experience provided by Quinn Alan McLoughlin and Liam O'Brien held the team together in times of stress, the eyes of the crowd, inevitably, were for the relative newcomers in the side.

For some of them the apprenticeship threatens to be long, but in the contribution of Gary Breen, the 22 year old Birmingham City defender whose international experience amounted to just two minutes against Portugal last Wednesday, McCarthy will have found cause for comfort.

Breen's stride pattern is uncannily similar to that of a former incumbent in the number five shirt, David O'Leary, his composure held up in even the tightest situations and by the time he was taken off to be replaced by Tony Cascarino, in one of several second half changes, he had provided enough evidence to suggest that he can soon establish himself in the senior team.

There was, too, another fine demonstration of the handling skills which can earn Shay Given a long international career in goal. The ball stuck in his hands with convincing security, his angles were flawless and the end product was a sequence of outstanding saves.

Mark Kennedy looked more comfortable when operating down the left flank in the second half, and Keith O'Neill will long savour the strike which brought him his first international goal in the 23rd minute.

That was some 10 minutes after a gaffe of considerable dimensions had presented Croatia with their opening goal. Seconds earlier, Given had pulled off a superb save to deny Suker from point blank range, but from the ensuing corner kick, Suker was given a free header by way of compensation.

The finger was pointed at Jeff Kenna, who didn't have a happy game, but thanks to Quinn's persistence and O'Neill's accuracy, Ireland were soon level. Quinn, under heavy pressure, did well to control Kennedy's cross with his chest and O'Neill swung his left boot to bring up Ireland's first goal in five games.

Ken Cunningham got in a vital clearance with Given for once in trouble, Vlaovic headed against the crossbar and Suker miskicked in front of an open goal. But the visitors went back in front on the stroke of half time.

Vlaovic provided the short pass, but Boban still had a lot of work to do when he lined up the low shot from 20 yards. The response from the Milan player, however, was consummate as he threaded the ball around a wall of players to score at Given's right hand post.

That was a thing of beauty, and there was fine precision, too, in the move which almost got O'Brien in after he had traded passes with McLoughlin in the 57th minute. Ian Harte, in his first international appearance, was just marginally too high with the shot six minutes later, but as Irish ambition expanded, so the Croatians began to look increasingly vulnerable.

Quinn, beating the offside trap, chose to lay the ball off for Cascarino when he might have been better advised to go it alone, and then Dave Savage, getting on the end of Kennedy's cross, was denied only by an expansive save from Ladic.

The look on McCarthy's face was that of a man who sensed that the fates had again lined up against him. But then, as the pressure intensified, Quinn pounced for the goal and the draw that retrieved respectability.

. World Footballer of the Year George Weah says his native Liberia's 1998 World Cup dreams are still alive despite the ravages of civil war at home and a 2-1 defeat by Gambia in a first round qualifier. "I'm happy with the result because we will qualify in Accra," Weah said after Saturday's scrappy, ill tempered match in Gambia's capital Banjul.