SOCCER/Republic of Ireland in 2004: He may still be some way off his goal of taking this Irish team to a major championship finals, but in the wake of Tuesday's comfortable win over Croatia all the indications are that Brian Kerr has the potential to become the Republic's most accomplished manager and perhaps its most successful.

The defeat of the Euro 2004 finalists means that he boasts the best record of any Ireland coach at this stage of his career. His team's record for the current year, meanwhile, is fractionally better than that of either Brazil or France - the two top ranked sides in the world - neither of which could beat the Republic during the past 12 months.

Kerr has now been in charge for 24 games of which 14 have been won and eight drawn. That's marginally better than Jack Charlton's 13 and seven at the same stage of his reign and significantly superior to the starts made by John Giles, Eoin Hand and Mick McCarthy, who could boast nine, eight and six wins, respectively, by this point in their careers as international manager.

In more current, though perhaps rather unscientific, terms, Kerr's side has outperformed both the World and European champions during 2004, with the Brazilians managing a fractionally lower success rate in their 17 games prior to yesterday (eight wins and eight draws) and the Greeks, managing just six wins and five draws (both sets of figures exclude extra-time) in 15 games prior to last night.

The difference is, of course, that those teams played in major continental championships while all but four of Ireland's outings since last Christmas have been friendly games.

On a number of occasions it has appeared that Kerr has pursued victories in these matches more vigorously than his various opposite numbers, although this is not to take away unduly from the team's achievements during a spell that included some strong performances and good results, most notably in the games against Brazil, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

In competitive terms, the highlight of 2004 was the draw in France, but it at this sort of higher level that Kerr really remains unproven. The reality is that in the 22 months since he took over Ireland did not win any of their four games with qualification rivals. The record to date is three draws and one defeat, although the points earned in Basel and Paris suggest welcome progress when compared with the loss away to Switzerland and failure to beat Russia in Dublin towards the end of 2003.

Clearly, however, the Irish are not going to be in Germany unless they win a couple of their bigger games during the year ahead, and Mark Lawrenson's prediction that the side that comes away from Tel Aviv with three points will top the group might not be far off the mark.

Winning away against opposition of real quality still looks a tall order for this Irish side, but what is encouraging is that the team has shown continual signs of improvement over the past two years as Kerr succeeded in getting the best out of established players and integrating a couple of talented youngsters.

McCarthy, to be fair, had little problem getting what was largely the same group of players to perform for him, but his successor's influence has certainly been positive in a number of areas.

Kerr has benefited from the fact that Robbie Keane and Damien Duff have continued to mature into players of considerable ability during the past two years. Kerr has also been rewarded for his investment in the likes of Kevin Kilbane, Clinton Morrison and Andy O'Brien with a string of increasingly confident performances, while his willingness to hand young players their chance has also proved well judged, most notably in the case of Andy Reid.

Notwithstanding the slight shift in emphasis on Tuesday, his tactical approach has been more settled than he initially suggested, but within a rather set formation he has successfully cultivated flexibility with Duff, Reid and Steve Finnan the main movers within a team once again driven by Roy Keane.

On the downside, the squad is undoubtedly weaker now in the goalkeeping department than it was under McCarthy and it remains open to question whether Dean Kiely might have been kept on board.

A number of players, meanwhile, have not, for one reason or another, progressed in quite the way that would have been hoped a couple of years back with, for instance, John O'Shea appearing to have slipped back in the Manchester United pecking order and Steven Reid having seen his career almost completely drained of its momentum by injuries.

The bulk of the news has been good, though, and at the heart of the 38 players used by Kerr this year there is the makings of a capable young team that has its best years ahead of it.

For Roy Keane and Kenny Cunningham this campaign may mark the end of the road. For the rest, like their manager, however, the past two years point to a bright future, albeit one that may not, whether they make it to Germany or not, be fully realised until after 2006.