For just about 83 minutes of Saturday evening the minor miracle being worked by Arno Pijpers here in Estonia must have been a source of giddy excitement to Mick McCarthy and everybody else in the Irish camp. This morning the attitude towards the recently imported Dutch coach is surely just a little less enthusiastic.
As McCarthy completes his preparations for this evening's world cup qualifier here in Tallinn, he knows that the Estonian side they will face in their eighth game of the campaign will probably present more of a challenge than the one that gently rolled over in Dublin in October. And with this qualifying group still without a fully fledged shock to its credit, the Ireland manager has more than one reason to regret this evening's hosts' failure to get an upset out of their system at the weekend.
With anything less than a win here representing a devastating blow to the Republic's hopes of reaching next summer's finals, McCarthy was clearly a little apprehensive yesterday when he again declined to name his starting line-up the day before the game and, as he had done in the build up to the Portugal game, avoided giving much detail regarding the fitness of his players. "There's a bit of end-of-season stuff, all right," he conceded with a grin. "Groins, necks, ankles, but nothing that's too much of a concern at this stage."
Robbie Keane was the only player to miss yesterday morning's training session but both manager and player insisted that the Leeds United striker would be fit and ready by this evening when he will be looking to end a run of 568 minutes without an international goal.
"Like every striker I'd like to score but it really doesn't bother me, as long as things are going well for the team and we're winning the games," he insisted yesterday. It was a sentiment roundly endorsed by his manager a few moments later who nevertheless declined to entirely rule out a change of personnel in Ireland's front line.
In fact the only certain change from Saturday's side is the replacement of the suspended Roy Keane with Matt Holland while the only real question mark after that concerns Gary Kelly's position on the right side of midfield.
Kelly did well there at Lansdowne Road but it is surely unthinkable that McCarthy would play a second right back against one of the group's weaker sides when everything over the past couple of seasons suggests that a more positive approach brings rewards.
Pressed repeatedly about his intentions since Saturday, McCarthy has given little away but Damien Duff must be the favourite for the slot.
In Dublin the Estonian full backs had a particularly difficult evening with Kevin Kilbane, Jason McAteer and later Duff all thriving on their ability to get past opponents and launch crosses from good, deep positions. The poor quality of the playing surface at the new Lillekula stadium may not help those selected in their attempts to repeat that success this evening but when they do it well it is Ireland's best game plan and so we will presumably see a second winger out there from the start.
While Andy O'Brien will almost certainly start on the bench in order to allow Gary Doherty to be thrown on up front during the match, McCarthy is unlikely to meddle with the back four and having gone out of his way again yesterday to pay tribute to their efforts on Saturday, he confirmed that Steve Staunton will skipper the team on a night when he will establish a new record of 89 appearances for his country.
On the face of it, meanwhile, not an enormous amount has changed in the Estonian camp under Pijpers, who took over the position in the immediate aftermath of the team's 2-0 defeat in Dublin.
For a start, he continues to rely heavily on the Flora Tallinn club side that, like his predecessor, he also manages, and so nine of tonight's starters are likely to be players he works with on a full-time basis. Gently, though, he has altered the appearance of the team, making a number of changes in personnel but also bringing a new tactical awareness to a group of players who are benefiting from his guidance.
As it turned out the Dutch game was Estonia's first defeat in eight games under Pijpers. Nevertheless the defending for two of the visiting side's goals was very poor while for the fourth it was simply comical.
Still, having started with a lone striker before switching comfortably to 4-4-2 at half-time, they did at least show they have acquired a new bag of tricks since getting off rather lightly with that two-goal defeat in Dublin.
Given that they scored two fine goals in the second period against the Dutch they will probably opt to stick with the second striker and with Kristen Viikmae having picked up a knee injury in the game both goalscorers, Andres Oper and Indrek Zelinski look certain to retain their places. The hope is that it will be the frailties of the home side's other players will prove the decisive factor this evening.
Possible Line-ups
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Given (Newcastle United); Carr (Tottenham Hotspur), Dunne (Manchester City), Staunton (Aston Villa), Harte (Leeds United); Duff (Blackburn Rovers), Holland (Ipswich Town); Kinsella (Charlton Athletic), Kilbane (Sunderland); Quinn (Sunderland), Keane (Leeds United).
ESTONIA: Kaalma (Flora Tallinn); Saviauk (Flora Tallinn), Piiroja (Flora Tallinn), Stepanov (Flora Tallinn), Rooba (Midtjylland, Denmark); Haavistu (Flora Tallinn), Reim (Flora Tallinn), Kristal (Flora Tallin), Novikov (Flora Tallinn); Oper (Aalborg, Denmark), Zelinski (Flora Tallinn).
