Republic of Ireland 1 Jamaica 0
If, when he was appointed to the senior international job, Brian Kerr thought his days of guiding youthful Republic of Ireland sides were over he must have had a sense of déjà vu at the Valley last night.
Indeed, few younger senior Irish teams, with so few caps between the players, have ever been fielded, but they still proved too strong for Jamaica, beating them 1-0 to give a positive conclusion to Ireland's Unity Cup involvement, which had begun so woefully against Nigeria on Saturday.
Less positive was the attendance figure last night: just 6,155, the lowest of the three games, bringing the total attendance for the tournament to 28,000, leaving 50,000 unsold tickets.
That was the organisers' problem. For Kerr it proved to be a satisfactory enough victory against a Jamaican side ranked 50th in the world, warming up for two World Cup qualifying games against Haiti later this month.
Of the players who started only Mark Kinsella, captain in the absence of Kenny Cunningham, Gary Doherty and Clinton Morrison have 20 caps or more to their name - exclude them and the average caps total of the team was five.
The squad's most junior member, Celtic's Aiden McGeady (18), was given his debut, thus becoming the fourth youngest player, after Jimmy Holmes (1971), Robbie Keane (1998) and Gary Waddock (1980), to win a senior cap for Ireland, completing what has been a dizzying couple of months for the Scottish-born forward.
He didn't have the time last night - he only came on for the last eight minutes - to make quite the impact that he did on his Celtic debut against Hearts in April, when he scored and was named man of the match, but his emergence could yet give Kerr an added option up front, where his options are currently so limited. Early days, though. Colin Healy and Liam Miller, both since departed from Parkhead, will attest to the burden of being touted as Celtic's "New Messiah".
As promised Kerr "freshened up" his starting eleven, making seven changes from the team that lined out against Nigeria - Paddy Kenny, Andy O'Brien, John O'Shea, Graham Barrett, Alan Quinn, Andy Reid and Clinton Morrison coming in for Nicky Colgan, Kenny Cunningham, Steve Finnan, Liam Miller, Matt Holland, Stephen McPhail and Robbie Keane. Jonathan Douglas, who was due to play in the centre of midfield alongside Kinsella, failed to recover from the twisted knee he suffered in training.
But Quinn, who hadn't appeared for Ireland since the game against Australia in August of last year, predictably, brought a combative edge to the midfield that was so lacking against Nigeria and, in tandem with Kinsella, ensured that Ireland had the edge in the centre for the bulk of the game.
Out wide Barrett, on the right, and Reid, on the left, created enough openings in the first half for Morrison, playing against the nation that offered him an international call-up three years ago, to mark his 20th cap with his sixth goal and some more, but he spurned them all. His header rebounded off the crossbar in the ninth minute, when Barrett's looping header found him unmarked on the left post, and his shot soon after, bound for the bottom right corner, was turned away by Jamaican goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.
Ricketts, though, hardly boosted his hopes of his "dream" move to England in the 28th minute (he currently plays for a second division club in Jamaica) when he misjudged the bounce on Graham Barrett's shot from 25 yards, diving over the midfielder's effort which found its way in to the left corner of the goal, giving the Coventry City player his second goal in four appearances.
Paddy Kenny, making his first start for Ireland, was largely untroubled through the game, dealing comfortably with a string of long-range efforts from an increasingly frustrated and average Jamaican side, while Gary Doherty and Andy O'Brien, in the centre of defence, were rarely seriously tested by the Jamaican attack, which hadn't much more than a "physical presence" to offer all night.
The second half petered out, with both sides looking leg weary, although substitute Clive Clarke needed to be alert to clear a cross-cum-shot from the left from danger. Ireland were, then, deserving winners, but seldom threatened to add a second goal, with Morrison and Lee, who had a fruitless evening, looking wearier than most in the closing stages.
An improved performance, though, on the trouncing by Nigeria although, admittedly, it couldn't possibly have been worse.
On to Amsterdam, then, for Saturday's friendly with Holland. The pitch at the Arena should be more to Kerr's liking - it still had a "ploughed field" look about it last night - the crowd and atmosphere certainly will too. His line-up, however, is unlikely to have quite so youthful a look about it.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND:Kenny (Sheffield Utd); Maybury (Hearts), O'Brien (Newcastle Utd), Doherty (Tottenham), O'Shea (Manchester United); Barrett (Coventry City), Kinsella (unattached), A Quinn (Sheffield Wednesday), A Reid (Nottingham Forest); Morrison (Birmingham City), Lee (Cardiff City). Subs: Clarke (Stoke City) for O'Shea (half-time), Rowlands (QPR) for Reid (76 mins), McGeady (Celtic) for Lee (82 mins), Holland (Charlton) for Quinn (82 mins).
JAMAICA:Ricketts; Neil, Stewart, Goodison, G Reid; F Davis, C Chin-Sue, Hyde; King, Burton, Lisbie. Subs: Johnson for Lisbie (61 mins), Langley for Chin-Sue (65 mins), Bernard for Burton (82 mins), Dobson for King (85 mins).
Referee:R Styles (England).
