There may have to be a couple of far more memorable wins between now and October if Mick McCarthy is finally to lead this Ireland team to a major championships.

But last night, in front of some 4,000 mostly Irish supporters at Barcelona's mini-stadium, his players again showed that, just as they can be inspired against the giants of this group, they have finally mastered the art of being quietly businesslike when visiting its minnows.

Against an Andorran side who only occasionally got any further forward than the distance their goalkeeper could kick the ball, the Irish might well have won this game more comfortably than the eventual three-goal margin.

But after Ian Harte had put them in front from the penalty spot in the 33rd minute, the 1-0 win McCarthy had said he would settle for was virtually guaranteed, and so the late contributions of Kevin Kilbane and Matt Holland served only to add a little respectability to the scoreline.

None of the three was a particularly good goal, even if Kilbane reacted brightly to the parrying of a Robbie Keane downward header and Holland showed a certain coolness as he dragged the ball across the face of goal and past three defenders in order to find a more promising spot to finish from.

Had Keane been on form he certainly could have had a couple himself. The fact is, though, that the finishing of others also left quite a lot to be desired, for Ireland created a steady supply of opportunities around the box.

With so many bodies to pick their way, through, it was somewhat understandable that the Irish produced little by way of genuinely flowing approach work and, in the end, only Roy Keane and Damien Duff could be reckoned to have caused the opposition real problems on a consistent basis.

Harte's set pieces should have posed the Andorran goalkeeper Alfonso Sanchez more difficulty, but barely a decent save had to be made from a free or corner, while Kilbane, his goal aside, was amongst the majority who had a relatively quiet night.

That the performance of the Irish team was not going to be much improved on Saturday's in Nicosia started to become obvious early on, although the defending of the home side was so deep as to ensure that there would still be plenty of action around the Andorran box.

An early goal might have settled McCarthy's men and allowed them to open up their opponents a little bit and with Roy Keane, Duff and Holland all looking anxious to get forward in support of their strikers there were plenty of men in white shirts hoping to get the breakthrough.

The best chance of the game's first quarter, though, was created by Ian Harte who, with a well-weighted cross swung in from the left looked to have set his team-mate Robbie Keane up for the opener.

The 20-year-old's header towards the top right corner certainly looked good enough to find the net, but Sanchez made a spectacular flying leap to push the ball wide of the upright.

For the rest of the half, Keane was more or less anonymous, his most memorable contribution coming in the 44th minute when Gary Doherty and Roy Keane linked up well to put the young striker clean through on Sanchez.

The Andorran goalkeeper must then have been as surprised as the rest of us to see the Irishman's shot fly wildly towards the empty stand behind.

By then, David Connolly had departed to make way for Doherty, McCarthy clearly having decided that some height was required if the packed Andorran defence was to be seriously unsettled.

Given that the Ireland coach had seen tapes of last night's opponents in action and had, presumably, been aware of the post-match quotes from the weekend's game against Holland - when both managers identified the physical presence of the Dutch strikeforce as a key factor in paving the way to an easy win - the realisation was a little belated.

As it was, having started with Connolly it would have seemed more reasonable to stick with him until the break or, for that matter, to haul off his underperforming partner instead.

Off the Feyenoord man went, though, and on came the Donegalman who, to some extent, justified his manager's change of tack in the 33rd minute when he played a part in the first half's only goal.

His wasn't the key contribution, though. The pass he played into Roy Keane's path down the left hand side of the box looked promising enough.

But, in truth, the Irish captain looked to have been heading far to wide to pose a direct threat when the Andorran goalkeeper suddenly did his opponent the courtesy of making a clumsy contact.

Keane duly went down and Harte, in turn, stuck the penalty away, even if a little more enthusiasm on the part of Sanchez might well have been enough to keep one of the Leeds defender's less impressive spot-kicks out.

No matter, the goal was initially enough to take the pressure off until the greater experience and fitness of the Irish really began to tell in the last 15 minutes.

By the end, another rather forgettable performance had been overshadowed by another pleasantly comfortable margin of victory.

ANDORRA: Sanchez (Bertamirans); Pol (Santboia), Jonas (FC Andorra) (Soria (St Colomba), 90 mins), T Lima (Gava), Txema (FC Andorra), Lucendo (FC Andorra); Emiliano (FC Andorra) (Escura (Jupiter), 83 mins), I Lima (Saint Andreu), Ruiz (FC Andorra), Oscar (FC Andorra); Sanchez (FC Andorra) (Jimenez (FC Andorra), 88mins).

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Given (Newcastle United); Kelly (Leeds United), Breen (Coventry City), Cunningham (Wimbledon), Harte (Leeds United); Duff (Blackburn Rovers), Keane (Manchester United), Holland (Ipswich Town), Kilbane (Sunderland) (Finnan (Fulham), 84 mins); Keane (Leeds United), Connolly (Feyenoord) (Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur.

Referee: I Ishchenko (Ukraine).