Soccer European Championship Group 10:Albania - 0 Republic of Ireland - 0: If you had been judging by the scale of the celebrations in the streets of Tirana's city centre last night it would have been easy to assume Albania had, for the second time in four days, beaten "a former superpower" rather than drawn a game that they might have won in front of a packed house at the Qemel Stafa stadium. Emmet Malone reports from Tirana.
Few nations have been better equipped by history when it comes to perspective, though, and so the people danced through the traffic to the sound of fireworks and car horns in Skanderbeg Square long after the final whistle had brought to an end a tense and hard-fought game between sides that had come in search of win but seemed happy enough to have avoided defeat.
It is easy to see why no one has managed to come here and win. After the result at the weekend and all the talk about their growing stature from within the Irish camp since, it was just a little tempting to suspect that Brian Kerr and Co might come here and restore order to the Group 10 pecking order.
Instead, the Irish were obliged to work hard by a well-organised, strong and confident team that would have had a couple of goals but for impressive defending from Ireland's central defensive partnership and three or four fine saves from Shay Given.
That Gary Breen did so well came as a relief, for within the first couple of minutes he gave strong hints that he was going to have a nightmare with a couple of quick errors that allowed the Albanians to spring forward and Edvin Murati, on the second occasion, to force a sliding intervention low to his left from the Newcastle goalkeeper.
With Robbie Keane partnering Damien Duff in attack there was the expectation that Ireland's ability to move the ball about up front would cause the home side problems. But neither of the Irishmen saw a great deal of the ball through the opening half, and when they did Keane looked understandably short of his best while Duff rarely evaded the muscular approach of his markers.
Ireland's first chance came after just six minutes when Duff's low free from the right was turned goalwards but far too close to Foto Strakosha by Kevin Kilbane from close range.
But the bulk of the traffic was at the other end where Murati, with a comical slip when lining up a volley aside, did much to justify his huge popularity with the locals.
With the game played at a much livelier pace than Saturday's, Muratti lurked menacingly on the left side waiting for errors by the Irish, and with Steve Carr performing less impressively than usual and Lee Carsley working hard defensively but missing the target with his passes a little too often there was a generous supply of loose ball for the local midfielder to pounce on.
More generally, Ireland's problems were much as they had been at the weekend, with the central midfield too far back to provide meaningful service to the strikers, and the team's attempts to string together spells of passing broke down because of errors, forced or unforced.
The Albanians kept possession and pushed the ball about far more effectively than the Georgians had, however, and as a result neither Carr nor John O'Shea managed to contribute as much to the attacking side of Ireland's game as they had in Tbilisi.
Kevin Kilbane, on the other hand, contributed more, even if he did, once again, struggle to get decent crosses in. But the hosts also repeatedly got the ball out wide only for their final ball into the danger area to be knocked too close to Given.
The huge figure of Igli Tare proved, as had been expected, to be a handful for the Irish defence but all his hard work could not erase the fact that his first touch was poor, and so he gave Breen and Kenny Cunningham opportunities to make decisive challenges.
Either side of half-time the Irish might have grabbed the lead, but when Duff turned and shot low towards the bottom corner two minutes before the break Strakosha did well to push the ball wide, while seven minutes after the restart the Blackburn winger allowed the opportunity to slip away after Keane's best moment of the game, a neat dummy on the edge of the area followed by a wonderful through ball, provided him with a great chance in the six-yard box.
Having come on for a tiring Keane, however, Gary Doherty never really gave the big Albanian defence any cause for serious concern, and after Kilbane went close to volleying Carsley's cross home at the left post it became increasingly difficult to see where an Irish goal might come from.
In the closing minutes they almost had two with Carsley finding the net from close range after play had been called back for a foul by Doherty, and then Breen headed home after Duff's free had been flicked on by Kilbane only for the referee's assistant to decide the Irish defender had been fractionally offside.
ALBANIA: Strakosha, Cipi, Beqiri, Aliaj, Lala, Hasi, Klodian Duro, Skela (Bushi 86), Murati (Bellai 67), Tare, Rraklli (Myrtaj 69). Subs Not Used: Beqaj, Albert Duro, Dede, Dragusha. Booked: Bushi.
IRELAND: Given (Newcastle United); Carr (Tottenham Hotspur), Breen (West Ham United), Cunningham (Birmingham City), O'Shea (Manchester United); Carsley (Everton), Kinsella (Aston Villa), Holland (Ipswich Town), Kilbane (Sunderland); Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Duff (Blackburn Rovers). Sub: Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur) for Keane (67 mins). Subs Not Used: Kiely, Kenna, O'Brien, Healy, Connolly.
Referee: S Farina (Italy).
