Relief and bravado of the ring rusty

Brian Kerr had warned that the Australians were more than capable of "embarrassing us at Lansdowne Road" last night. They nearly did, but the intervention of John O'Shea's head and Clinton Morrison's right boot spared the blushes.

Relief all around, then, as the players emerged from the dressing room after the game, not a red face in sight. All, to a man, contented with the preservation of their manager's unbeaten record and, therefore, the maintenance of some momentum ahead of the critical European qualifier in less than three weeks' time.

"A very special moment," said O'Shea of his first international goal. "I was extra happy that it got us back into the game and spurred us on to victory.

"And delighted to score at Lansdowne Road, in a game in which we weren't creating much.

"Hartey has a special left foot, I just said to him 'stick it in that near post' and he delivered. You know how much attention Brian's pays to detail at set-pieces, well we tried that exact move this morning and it worked, that time with Duffer putting it in."

You haven't, em, a great goalscoring record? "Are you sure," he laughs. "Na, I don't think I'll be competing with Robbie or Ruud van Nistelrooy on the goalscoring front, that's for sure, but I definitely hope to add a lot more because I feel I can be a threat at set-pieces."

Mr Versatile? Started at left-back, finished at right back. "Well, my stronger foot is definitely my right foot but as I always say I'll play anywhere to get in the side, for Ireland or my club. I needed a game tonight, I haven't got in to my club team yet since the start of the season so the more games I play - and scoring a goal - I'm sure my manager will be happy for me."

What's happened there? You couldn't put a foot wrong last season but you haven't got a look in yet this season - did you have a row with the manager? "No, no, no, everything's fine, I've just got to keep my head down, work hard and hopefully I'll be back in soon enough."

Clinton Morrison appears, beaming so brightly he'd have lit up the tunnel if the power had failed. "Yeah, five international goals, it's pleasing," he smiles. "Should have been six though, I don't know what happened there," he said, referring to the header he sent over the bar when he had a chance to equalise.

His goal? "The luck of the Irish, innnit? Na, I'm only joking. I love playing here, I love playing in front of the home fans, they're brilliant, they always give me a good reception. They seem to have taken to me and I've taken to them, I enjoy it now.

"I made decent contact, but I thought the defender would get it, it just had enough pace on it."

We had to wait an eternity for it to go in. "Yeah but I knew what I was doing, I was just getting the crowd worried, I knew it'd make it," he lies, grinning again.

"I'm not even fit, I was breathing hard the last five minutes and I only came on for half an hour. That was my first competitive game after five months, it was a long old struggle with the shoulder injury but I'm pleased, hopefully I can carry on going," he concluded.

"There were pluses and minuses tonight," said captain Kenny Cunningham. "We were a little bit ring rusty after the summer break, which was to be expected, but this was a very accomplished Australian side.

"We showed a lot of determination and character in the second half, we may not have been playing at our best but we ground out a result."

Australia beat England, Ireland beat Australia, does that mean Ireland are the best team in these islands? "Yeah," laughs Cunningham, "and our World Cup odds have been slashed."