Republic of Ireland 3 Latvia 0: Having been told last Saturday that Jack Charlton and Mick McCarthy had started their managerial stints with the Republic of Ireland by overseeing defeats, Martin O'Neill joked that he would tell his players to lose in the hope of matching the pair's achievements.
Instead, he managed to engineer a 3-0 victory just as Steve Staunton did against Sweden in 2006. That, though, was about the night’s only negative.
O’Neill’s fingerprints were all over this most comfortable of wins, with the side rising confidently to the challenge of impressing the new manager. There was nothing of any consequence at stake and a depleted Latvia side was always likely to struggle against players of a higher calibre who were aiming to impress, but the new manager’s first Ireland team still played as well as could reasonably have been expected, creating enough chances to have won by quite a few more while barely having to involve Keiren Westwood at the other end.
Robbie Keane underlined his importance to the set-up with yet another goal after 22 minutes but there were signs that others might finally step up to the mark in the event that the 33-year-old starts to fade, with Aiden McGeady and Shane Long both finding the net.
Caught the eye
However, it was the general manner of the win that caught the eye, with critics of Giovanni Trapattoni bound to have seen this as a liberation for the players they feel he shackled.
The shift in approach was certainly obvious from the outset. The Irish didn’t start the game at quite the tempo they have tended to in recent times, but there was more consistency and control to their play – the sort that has often been lacking – and far more fluency to their movement of the ball than we had become used to under the previous regime.
Latvia weren’t up to a great deal and the Irish were generally given time and space with which to work, but crucially the hosts looked inclined to use both, with the likes of James McCarthy, Wes Hoolahan and McGeady regularly weighing up options well, then opening things up for team-mates in or around the area.
McCarthy, in particular, seemed to thrive on it. Making his 21st appearance, the Everton midfielder was at the heart of most of Ireland’s best work over the course of the first hour or so and after O’Neill had said that he wanted to see his side press high up the pitch in the hope of creating more scoring opportunities, the 23-year-old provided the perfect example of how it should be done when he pounced on a ponderous defender and set up Keane for a curling shot from the midst of four defenders that Andris Vanins did well to push away.
The goalkeeper had done even better 12 minutes in when a well-worked Irish free culminated in John O’Shea stepping over a first-time Hoolahan ball and Keane had looked a certainty to poke home from six yards.
The striker had more to do for his goal although the build-up was simplicity itself with McGeady’s corner flicked on by McClean for his skipper to stroke it home.
The regulars among a good-size crowd would have known better than to expect an avalanche after that but the difference here was that Ireland didn't lose their way suddenly or for long stretches.
Locals dominated
Latvia had the odd chance on the break but for once the locals dominated almost the entirety of the proceedings; something that, in its way, made the fact that it took until the 68th minute to make game secure all the more frustrating.
Some of the finishing will certainly have disappointed the new manager but he did say he wanted his players to be more inclined towards having a crack at goal and on that front he has to have been pleased even if Glenn Whelan’s early shot from an impossible angle suggested the Dubliner was a little too keen to please.
For all his good work McClean really should have had at least one goal, with the Wigan winger skipping past Nauris Gabovs in the first half to set up a right-footed shot that only served to remind us that the northerner is terribly one-footed. After the break he blasted a similarly straightforward chance well over after Séamus Coleman’s initial effort had been inadvertently blocked by Hoolahan, who recovered well to set up the Derryman.
Still, if O’Neill couldn’t quite get one winger he worked with previously off the mark then he seemed to have the desired effect on another. McGeady had two goals in 62 games before last night and one of those, in truth, was an Andorran own goal, but when Juris Laizans presented him with the ball in space midway through the second half he took a touch and let fly with a low-driven shot that from that range probably shouldn’t have beaten Vanins at his near post but did.
From that point on Ireland simply oozed confidence. Everybody looked eager to get in on the act and Vanins was kept busy as his defence became increasingly swamped. The sense of expectation around the stadium continued to build and when O’Neill made a triple substitution, bringing on Jon Walters, Andy Reid and Shane Long for Keane, McGeady and Hoolahan, there was a wonderful mix of excitement and appreciation in the crowd’s reaction.
The impact of the new arrivals was swift with Reid and Walters combining terrifically well as they swept forward from midfield with Coleman, whose cross was ultimately turned home by the West Brom striker to the supporters’ delight.
There might have been more but the Latvians, to their credit, never folded and Vanins produced another decent save from Stokes who had come on for McClean whose overall contribution won him the man-of the-match award.The night’s biggest winner, of course, had never kicked a ball.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: K Westwood; S Coleman, J O'Shea, M Wilson, S Ward; A McGeady (A Reid, 73 mins), G Whelan (P Green, 80 mins), J McCarthy (K Doyle, 80 mins), J McClean (A Stokes, 80 mins); W Hoolahan (S Long, 73 mins), Keane (J Walters, 73 mins). Subs not used: D Forde, R Elliot, S Kelly, J O'Brien, S St Ledger, A Pearce.
LATVIA: A Vanins; V Gabovs, N Bulvitis, K Gorkss, V Maksimenko; R Rode, R Rugins (A Fertovs, 26 mins), J Laizans, A Lazdins (A Sinelnikovs, 72 mins); V Sabala (D Turkovs, 61 mins), M Verpakovskis (E Visnakovs, h/t). Subs not used: A Kolinko, J Zigajevs, A Kurakins, A Zjuzins, A Kovalovs, G Malins. Booked: Gabovs (56 mins), Gorkss (85 mins), Rode (90 mins).
Referee: Andreas Ekberg (Sweden)
