MIt was like shooting ducks in a bath. The Faroe Islands sat back and allowed Ireland to dominate possession and therefore the match. The home side got off to an ideal start with Robbie Keane's penalty, the product of a slaloming run from Damien Duff, writes Mark LawrensonSoccer analyst

Having got the goal they required to settle down, Brian Kerr's side continued to create chance after chance. They probably should have scored a couple more goals in the first half given the number of chances they created and Robbie Keane's second was the minimum return they deserved given their dominance.

The Faroe Islands tried to pack their defence but Ireland got around them by using the wings and while the final ball didn't match the quality of the build-up, it was simply a question of when, rather than if, they would add to their tally.

Kerr won't have been too enamoured with some of the 11 corners that Ireland won in the first half, the delivery leaving a little to be desired.

Roy Keane's performance, though, will have pleased the manager. Keane was a dominant force in midfield was always looking for the ball and then moving it on swiftly and thoroughly deserved his man-of-the-match accolade.

Given the fact the home side were troubled defensively it allowed him more scope than he's had in recent games to get forward.

Nowhere was that more evident than in Ireland's second goal, when he raced onto Duff's pass and slid the ball across for Robbie Keane. The latter got a fortunate break off a defender but tucked the resulting chance away well.

The visitors just couldn't hang onto the ball and therefore constantly found themselves under the cosh. They lacked the composure to keep possession thereby compounding their problems. It wasn't just Duff and the two Keane's causing the Faroe Islands problems but also Steve Finnan. The Liverpool player linked well with Stephen Carr, getting forward to provide Ireland with the width they were looking for to get around the visiting defence.

The tempo Ireland brought to the game from the start facilitated their efforts to put pressure on their opponents as did the movement and running off the ball. The Faroes were left chasing shadows all night. The fact they were reduced to obvious time wasting early in the second half illustrated their attitude. It was a question of keeping the score down.

Given their opponents' limited ambition, the most important quality Ireland required was patience; to keep playing football with the belief that the chances would continue to come. In games like this, if the better team starts quickly, then they force their opponents to raise the level of their game and that is something weaker teams can't generally sustain. Ireland did exactly that.

The second half continued in the same vein and Robbie Keane will probably wonder how he didn't extend the record he broke at Lansdowne Road last night still further. If you're going to miss chances then this was the game in which to do it, with the match already won.

Ireland's team work over the 90 minutes was exemplary and in the two games, last night and in Paris on Saturday, that has been a hugely satisfactory aspect of their performances. Brian Kerr deserves great credit for the manner in which he prepared the team for these two matches.

Having got the draw in Stade de France it would have been so easy to make a few changes, given the expectation that the Faroe Islands wouldn't offer much resistance but he managed to avoid that temptation and was rewarded with another top-notch display from his players.

If you had asked Kerr before the start of this World Cup campaign would he have taken eight points from four outings that included trips to Basel and Paris, he would probably have taken your hand off. They say a good start is half the battle and Ireland have certainly achieved that this autumn.

What Irish fans will now be hoping is that the team's key players, the two Keanes and Damien Duff, stay healthy for when the campaign resumes in the spring of next year.

If you were searching for Utopia at Lansdowne Road last night you'd probably have looked for five or six goals but the important thing is that Ireland delivered on the promise of Paris.

The work ethic was right, so too the attitude. In essence it was an excellent performance, albeit one where the Faroe Islands got off lightly in terms of the number of goals they conceded.