There will, he'll trust, be more rewarding days ahead when Ireland will play for more than the runners-up spot in the Unity Cup in front a crowd of barely 6,000 on a Wednesday night in south London, but Brian Kerr was content enough with the performance of his largely inexperienced side at The Valley last night and with the overall value of the time the squad spent together since they arrived here last Friday. Mary Hannigan reports from London

All week he'd talked of the benefits of taking so many new - or relatively new - faces to London for the tournament, an enforced experimentation, as it proved, following a string of withdrawals from the squad. These players, he argued, will at least have had a flavour of senior international football should they be required for bigger games ahead, not least in the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers.

In to that category falls Stoke City's Clive Clarke, who was as content as his manager with last night's work. "It's the result we wanted," he said, "because we were so bad against Nigeria. We just wanted to show the people what we could do, and I think we did that."

"It was miles better," said Alan Lee, "but it's hard, I suppose, when you're used to playing in front of packed houses at Lansdowne Road," he added, in reference to last night's poor attendance. "These were important games, though, for the younger players, they gave us a chance to show what we can do."

"It's the performance we needed after the Nigeria game," said Mark Kinsella. "I don't want to make excuses, but our preparations just weren't right for that game, we were more ready tonight. These games were all about the young players in the squad and I thought they did well. Alan Quinn worked very hard tonight and for a fella making his first start he did very well. Graham Barrett took his goal well and I was delighted to see Aiden McGeady make his debut. The future looks good."

Kinsella revealed that he will not be travelling to Amsterdam for the Dutch game, instead he'll be attending his son's first communion. Paddy Kenny, too, will miss the trip - he's getting married.

Also out, with a knee injury, is Jonathan Douglas.