Republic of Ireland -2 Albania - 1 There was plenty of talk afterwards of Napoleon's stated preference for lucky generals rather than good ones. Brian Kerr, the consensus was, may have yet to prove himself a manager of real quality at senior international level but at this early stage of his reign everything indicates he is certainly a fortunate one.
Fortune, it's said, favours the brave, and by making his first major tactical departure since replacing Mick McCarthy at the start of the year, Kerr showed himself to be that on Saturday. In return he was blessed with an injury-time own goal that gifted his side three precious points and a draw for Russia in Basle several hours later that deprived Ireland's two main rivals of two additional points.
The actual benefits derived from playing with Damien Duff behind a front two of David Connolly and Robbie Keane were hard to gauge, for while Ireland created many more scoring chances than their opponents they would surely have dominated the afternoon whatever formation was employed.
The extent of the downside too is a little hard to estimate for while the Albanians probably enjoyed more space going forward than any team visiting Dublin in recent years there were a number of other factors at play, some rather poor individual performances among them.
Certainly Ireland's midfield never quite seemed to come to the task handed to it by Kerr. They failed to provide the sort of defensive cover that would have been expected, and they also, especially after a reasonably impressive spell early on, showed themselves incapable of providing the support required by Duff and company in what was at times a very crowded Albanian area.
Though they saw a good deal less of the ball than their hosts, the Albanians again showed themselves to be well organised and hard-working. In Geri Cipi they possessed a defender capable of digging them out of tight corners at the back and in Altin Lala they had a midfielder who knew how to exploit the space Kerr had left free on the flanks by opting to go with a 4-3-1-2 formation.
That decision rested on the ability of Duff to mastermind the assault on the Albanian goal from the area just in front of their defence and sure enough he looked well up to the role. Early on he caused mayhem among the visitors with his darting runs, while Connolly also opened them up with a couple of fine chipped balls into the box for Keane.
So dominant were the Irish over the first quarter of the game that it seemed remarkable they had only scored once. Not nearly so remarkable, however, as the fact that, having done so, they still found themselves level with their opponents.
Ireland's goal started with Duff winning a free on the left in the sixth minute. The kick was partially cleared and Carr headed back into the area, where, it was later alleged by Hans-Peter Briegel, Kevin Kilbane's nudge on Elvin Beqiri forced an error from the defender as he tried to cut the ball out.
Whatever about Kilbane's contribution, the Albanian's headed touch did no more than help the ball nicely into the path of Keane, who, replays clearly showed, had been played onside by Cipi.
Keane coolly slipped the ball past Foto Strakosha for his 15th international goal in 43 appearances.
Straight from the restart, however, the Albanians countered. Klodian Duro and Besnik Hasi were both briefly involved before Altin Rraklli set off down the right. His low cross found Ervin Skela with an eternity to line up his shot, and the midfielder fired past Shay Given from about 12 yards.
The capacity crowd was stunned into silence and for a while the Irish players looked shaken too. Briefly then they rallied, creating a couple of chances and drawing at least one excellent save from Strakosha. But well before the half-hour mark the sparkle seemed to have gone out of their approach work and it was already difficult to see where another goal might come from.
Part of the problem was the reluctance to get forward in numbers.
Keane did come close to unleashing goalbound shots on a couple of occasions but Cipi's timing as he blocked the efforts was immaculate.
The workload was clearly taking a toll on Duff but rather than abandon the system in the second half Kerr chose to make a series of fairly straight swaps, the most significant of which was the arrival of Gary Doherty for Connolly.
The 23-year-old did what he seems to do best, upsetting opponents, winning a few headers, and finally, in the 92nd minute, making a key contribution to the goal. By then Duff had departed, nursing a knee injury, to leave Ireland a man short, and disputes relating to a variety of injuries to Albanians - real or otherwise - had brought an element of niggle into the game. The Polish referee had hardly helped matters but the Irish could not complain about his afternoon's work given that, aside from ignoring a penalty claim by each side, he twice resisted the temptation to send off Steve Carr for a second bookable offence.
Still, when the Albanians knocked the ball out so that their big striker Igli Tare could receive attention they reacted furiously when their hosts kept possession from the throw. Their anger was only exacerbated when, from the throw-in, the ball was played back to Given and then back up the pitch, via Carr, to Doherty, who knocked it low into the path of Adrian Aliaj and he, under pressure from Lee Carsley, turned the ball into his own goal.
It wasn't the prettiest or most convincing way to win but a glance at the Group 10 table tells its own story. From hoping against hope after the defeat by the Swiss, Kerr's side now finds itself with a realistic chance of winning the group.
Automatic qualification would require three more wins or a lot more luck but right now it seems Kerr and his players have more of each left in them.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Given (Newcastle United); Carr (Tottenham Hotspur), Breen (Unattached), Cunningham (Birmingham City), O'Shea (Manchester United); Holland (Ipswich Town), Kinsella (Aston Villa), Kilbane (Sunderland); Duff (Blackburn Rovers); Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Connolly (Wimbledon). Subs: Carsley (Everton) for Kinsella (55 mins), Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur) for Connolly (65 mins), Reid (Millwall) for Kilbane (76 mins).
ALBANIA: Strakosha; Beqiri, Cipi, Aliaj; Hasi; Duro Lala, Skela, Murati; Raklii, Tare. Subs: Bellaj for Murati (58 mins), Beqaj for Strakosha (76 mins), Myrtaj for Rraklli (86 mins).
Referee: Tomasz Mikulski (Poland)
