Unity Cup/ Republic of Ireland 0 Nigeria 3: Having played like unwitting victims in one of those studies on controlled cruelty that were once all the rage in American universities, the Irish team limped out of The Valley on Saturday looking as badly battered as they had been beaten.
For most, the attempt to play a second game less than 48 hours after their victory over Romania and under 24 after arriving in London had yielded predictable results. From some, however, the displays produced were a good deal worse than could have been anticipated and afterwards Brian Kerr made little attempt to disguise his disappointment with the scale of a defeat that was the Republic's worst since the mauling by Portugal almost nine years ago.
This, of course, was a very different game but it was, for the most part, every bit as one-sided, with the Irish only managing to make an impression late in the second half when they twice hit the woodwork.
The Nigerians, the "Super Eagles", on the other hand, looked lively and dangerous from the start, despite the fact that many of their players had themselves been late arrivals in England. Far from looking tired they were soon playing with the sort of swagger you might expect from internationals who had just realised they were up against a pub team.
The difference, perhaps, was that while their second string were playing for places in next weekend's World Cup qualifier against Rwanda, an Irish team, that got younger as the afternoon wore on, looked as if they were praying for the summer break that will follow Saturday's game in Amsterdam.
Kerr was quick to blame much of what went wrong on a schedule that had involved flying on the one rest day available to players between matches. He pointed out, too, that with five experienced defenders, a handful of midfielders and one striker all absent, he was unable to make more than four outfield changes. Asked whether the Unity Cup organisers, who must have been licking their wounds after just 7,438 turned up to see the game, had exerted pressure for players like Robbie Keane, Kenny Cunningham and local favourite Matt Holland to start, he insisted he had had a free hand but asked, "what do want me to do, put out a team of cub scouts?"
It's hard to imagine how it might have made things any worse, for most of the established players who did start looked jaded and it was only late on, as fresher legs were introduced, that the Irish performance began to improve. Mark Kinsella, Keane and Holland all looked in urgent need of a rest, while Liam Miller struggled badly and Cunningham faded after a solid start.
Those who came in, most notably Gary Doherty and Alan Lee generally fared better although Stephen McPhail will not want to see a recording of the first half when both he and Alan Maybury were completely overrun by John Utaka and Ifeanyi Ekwueme. The Hearts defender was replaced by Clive Clarke at the break, while McPhail was fortunate to be given the opportunity to redeem himself which, to some extent, he did.
Clarke did well, while it was hard not to feel sorry for Nicky Colgan, who could have done with keeping a clean sheet as he searches for a new club but instead let in three, despite not really being at fault for any. Indeed, he actually made a couple of decent saves. Jonathan Douglas and Graham Barrett, meanwhile, did as much as could be expected in the circumstances.
It was, however, the 20-year-old Inter Milan striker Obafemi Martins who stole the show on his international debut. The young Nigerian had turned down several earlier international call-ups but was clearly worth another summons. Manager Christian Chukwu said afterwards that having gotten him on board, "we must not let go on him again". It was easy to see why.
Martins might have single-handedly dismantled the Irish defence with his powerful running from deep positions but, as it happened, there was plenty of help from Ekwueme and Bartholomew Ogbeche, both swift attacking players whose speed and control caused the Irish endless problems.
Had their finishing been a little better the Africans might well have had another couple of goals before Ogbeche put them in front with a close-range strike nine minutes before the interval, following a neatly-timed pass from Martins.
The debutant did it all himself for the second, picking up possession inside his own half and carrying it to the edge of the Irish box as Holland trailed sluggishly behind and Cunningham backed off. When he finally fired his shot past Colgan into the bottom right corner, there were four green shirts within a matter of feet but nobody had actually attempted a challenge.
The third came 20 minutes from time and was the result of a mix up between Cunningham and Colgan which looked to be the defender's fault. Martins was quick to punish the error and Ogbeche, who finished to an open goal, was the beneficiary of his team mate's efforts.
"We had a lot of bodies behind the ball on a good few occasions, enough to get a tackle in, but we didn't do it" sighed Kerr. "A lot of the lads looked very tired. The Nigerians were good but I might have looked good out there today."
With the manager promising changes for Wednesday's game against Jamaica we might yet find out just how good he is.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Colgan (unattached); Finnan (Liverpool), Cunningham (Birmingham City), Doherty (Tottenham), Maybury (Hearts); Miller (Celtic), Holland (Charlton Ath) Kinsella (unattached), McPhail (Leeds Utd); Keane (Tottenham), Lee (Cardiff City). Subs: Rowlands (QPR) for Miller and Clarke (Stoke City) for Maybury (half-time), Douglas (Blackburn Rovers) for Holland (67 mins), Barrett (Coventry City) for Keane (84 mins).
NIGERIA: Rotimi; Abbey, Olajengbesi, Enakhire, Lawal; Utaka, Olofinjana, Obodo, Ekwueme; Martins, Ogbeche. Subs: Baita for Ogbeche (72 mins), Showumni for Martins (84 mins), Obiefule for Olofinjana (86 mins), Adamu for Abbey (90 mins).
Referee: A D'Urso (England).
