The press conference took place in a little tent pitched out in the car park behind the stand. You could hear the drizzle on the canvas and the trains on the tracks, and, all in all, it was a forlorn affair.

Mick McCarthy wore his good suit and a low-wattage smile and argued forcibly that it wasn't the end of the world. We wrote it down.

"We can play better," said Mick. "We didn't play particularly well today. They were the better team, but at the end of the day I'm happy with the one-one draw. I know they are a better side, but some people built them up the other way. They have played as best they can tonight, we certainly haven't."

So what went wrong?

"They played well," said McCarthy simply.

There was a pause. Some reflection and some mustering of courage. The manager filled in the gaps.

"There were some outstanding performances tonight. When our backs were against the wall we worked hard. We haven't played well but we made sure we didn't get beat."

What of Mark Kennedy? All week the advance publicity had screamed that the kid would be in the shop window and looking good. After 32 minutes he was heading for the showers and looking bedraggled.

The swiftness of his withdrawal had brought a gasp from the Lansdowne crowd. Afterwards McCarthy defended his turbulent young protege again.

"It was not an error in picking him in the first place," said McCarthy, careful of landmines. "It just wasn't working out for him or the team. The way it was set up wasn't right. I had decided to do it, to take Mark off, before the goal went in. He's disappointed, but if you get taken off after 32 minutes and you aren't disappointed there is something wrong with you.

"I think I ask a lot of young players. I know I do. He didn't play well. Mark knows and has accepted that he wasn't playing well."

We asked one of those soft questions designed to lighten the humour. Surely we had a penalty Mick?

"Penalty?" said the manager, pushing this particular plate away.

"I can't remember the incident. Run it by me . . . oh yeah. To be honest we don't get a great view of some of the things that happen."

And then one of those questions designed to make the air combustible.

"Were the team less motivated than in other matches?"

Press people dive for cover all over the place. McCarthy's eyebrows furrowing.

"Somebody ask me another question before I get angry," he says.

Sure. Well what was the most disappointing thing Mick?

"Our performance was the most disappointing. We didn't get it and pass it like we can. They are a strong physical side, they did to us what we have done in the past. They muscled us out of it.

"It is one-all at half time though."

As McCarthy spoke, Georges Leekens, suited and cool like a corporate lawyer, was upstairs in another press area announcing that he was a happy man. McCarthy gave some thought to his counterpart's position.

"I'm sure he is happy with their performance. If I was him I'd be happy with my team. If they have weaknesses we didn't exploit any of them. I'm not convinced that they are as good as they looked tonight. They played as well as they possibly can. We didn't find to many weaknesses. We found it difficult playing against them.

"Georges Leekens must have had the spin doctors in. He did a great job in manipulating opinion around to the view that they were going to be an easy touch."

McCarthy's discomfort with the interrogation process is clear. He wants to get back to his team and back to the business of planning a coup. He trails off from his views on Leekens and muses on the nuts and bolts of the game. How Leekens got him into check. Any possibility of escaping and forcing checkmate.

"I put two wide players on. I know I was right in my thinking about how they play midfield because we were getting overrun in there. Van Der Elst sits back and he causes problems when he gets on the ball. I wanted Mark Kennedy to get on him but it didn't happen. They take it in turns not to track back but just to hang up there and take it.

"With a bit better movement in Brussels perhaps we can win but we found it difficult tonight playing against them. I expected better service into our front men to be honest.

"Shay Given made a couple of great stops, one when we were a goal up but we didn't have a go at their keeper really. They are a big team. Some of their headed clearances were outstanding tonight."

What chinks of light there are, arise from Belgian complacency and unrealised Irish potential.

"I saw them doing the high fives after the game and I was pleased. That's great. I wouldn't write us off. It won't surprise me if people do write us off though."

And down in the dressing room where the team are cloistered, what words has he anointed their wounds with?

"We are disappointed but I've said `get your heads up'. We have had great spirit for 18 months. Some young fellas have done wonderfully well. We will have done even better if we go there and win. It's not beyond us. Based on that performance it would appear so but I know that we can play a damn sight better. Can they?"

And a night on which there were more questions than answers drew to a close as he got up and left amidst a thicket of security men.