Faroe Islands 1 Rep of Ireland 4IF HIS employers really are still even remotely in the business of weighing up the pros and cons of replacing Giovani Trapattoni then last night's win at the Torsvollur Stadium in Torshavn may tilt the scales a little in favour of the Italian.

The visitors didn’t exactly romp to their second victory of the campaign but it was, in the end, a good deal more comfortable than the win in Astana and better by two goals that Sweden’s victory here over at the weekend.

Marc Wilson, Jonathan Walters (although Robbie Keane subsequently said he was claiming it) and Darren O’Dea all found the target with a Faroese defender, Pol Justinussen, chipped in with the third as he sought to prevent a ball from Walters reaching Aiden McGeady.

There were moments along the way when it seemed entirely plausible that the night might end less well and two of Ireland’s goals came only in the closing stages. Still, after Friday’s humiliation, the performance and three goal margin of victory against opponents who, for all their obvious limitations, are not pushovers, was about as much as could reasonably have been hoped for.

On their competitive debuts Robbie Brady and, particularly, Wilson did well with the young winger providing plenty of enterprise down the right hand side and delivering a few well-placed set pieces.

The 20-year-old only lasted until half-time, when he was replaced by Simon Cox, and it was in the period immediately after that that Wilson really came into his own with the Northerner scoring one rather spectacular goal before apparently setting up Ireland’s second for his club-mate, Walters although Keane said afterwards that his had been the final touch. Had the Irish pushed on at that stage and built on the lead during what was a decent spell of clear superiority then this would really have gone down as a very good night’s work. But as they often do the Irish lived dangerously at times and when they conceded midway through the second half to make it 2-1 it briefly seemed that they might have to hang on . . . or worse

Ireland had started the game with a positive look about them and while they had just about the better of the early chances, the first half was far more open than they would have wanted.

Both full-backs had clearly been given a fair bit of licence to push forward and both managed to overlap to good effect a few times, but the locals proved adept at exploiting the space left behind when they counter-attacked and more than once there was a distinctly improvised look about Ireland’s defending.

Still, Trapattoni’s men should have been ahead from the 12th minutes when Brady played a corner from the right short to Aiden McGeady whose clipped cross was somehow headed wide of the target by Keith Andrews from five yards.

The visitors carved out further chances, the best of them falling to Walters who forced a decent save from Gunnar Nielsen after Andrews had flicked on a ball from Robbie Keane.

The upshot was that they were still level with the locals at the break although it could have worse.

When breaking forward Lars Olsen’s men certainly had their moments and Daniel Udsen almost scored an unlikely opening goal when his cross from out wide on the right wrong-footed Keiren Westwood who only just managed to prevent it reaching the top corner. Then, with seven minutes of the half remaining it was Darren O’Dea who denied the hosts with a lunging block after Christian Holst had teed up Joan Edmundsson nicely for a shot down the left hand side of the area.

Had the stalemate endured for any length of time into the second half the Irish could have been in real trouble but instead Wilson provided the breakthrough they needed 51 seconds after the restart.

The left back cut inside and let fly with a powerful right footed strike that clipped Jonas Tor Naes’ head on the way to the top left corner.

During the spell that followed Irealnd’s midfield started to move the ball far more effectively with James McCarthy making a considerable impact.

The upshot might well have been a few more but Keane finished one chance poorly and narrowly missed the target with a low right footed shot.

They got their cushion, though, courtesy of Walters who headed a Wilson cross home as the skipper lurked close by and, he said, got a touch.

At that stage the Irish really looked as though they would be able make the game safe although they never quite looked entirely on top of things when the Faroese managed to get the ball into their area. Sure enough, the home side got one back when Naes crossed for substitute Arnbjorn Hansen and O’Shea failed to prevent the header which looped over Westwood and in.

The prospect of the locals going on to get an equaliser suddenly loomed large and it seemed that at the very least the travelling support were going to be in for a nerve-racking last 22 minutes but instead things fairly swung the way of the Irish again when Walters broke into the area and saw his attempt to find McGeady turned into his own goal by the Faroese full-back Justinussen.

With a couple of minutes to go O’Dea made it four when he headed home McGeady’s corner. It was a first international goal for the defender and completed a rare three goal margin for his side.