SOCCER:THE DEBUTANTS in the Republic of Ireland's 3-0 win over Wales ended on a disappointing note at the Aviva Stadium last night, when bypassing the assembled daily hacks eager for their thoughts on two very impressive performances.

Former England under-20 captain Ciaran Clark was as solid as they come on the left-hand side of defence and Seamus Coleman showed the composure of a veteran on the right of midfield but it was left to others to eulogise their efforts. Habitually accommodating, Birmingham City midfielder Keith Fahey — himself the scorer of a tidy third for the hosts — happily obliged.

“The two debut lads were excellent,” said the former St Patrick’s Athletic man. “I thought Ciaran headed 50 balls first half and Seamus was excellent going forward.” It wasn’t all about them of course, for Fahey himself had plenty to smile about having been left out of the initial squad by Giovanni Trapattoni.

After replacing Coleman on the hour mark he settled comfortably on the left of midfield, with Damien Duff moving to the right, and took his chance with a superb free-kick to polish off a well-deserved win.

He was glad, however, fellow goalscorer Darron Gibson wasn’t still on the pitch or he might not have got near the deadball.

“It was nice to get on, take a free and nice to score it. I was pleased Darron wasn’t on and I said it to him afterwards. He said there was no way I’d have had it.”

Duff scored his first for his country in almost two years, and he was delighted to help earn a confidence-boosting win before Euro 2012 qualifying resumes against Macedonia next month.

“It was nice, I haven’t scored for a couple of years and it’s nice to get the points on the board in this new competition,” the man-of-the-match said.

“The Welsh lads made us work for it, but we played well and thoroughly deserved the win.

“This is a chance of silverware and we are in with a good chance, but the most important thing is qualifying for the European Championships, so the big one is next month.”