Soccer: Republic of Ireland 1 Romania 0: It may not quite have been the Roy-inspired romp that would clearly have delighted the majority of the 42,346-strong crowd at Lansdowne Road last night but as the Manchester United skipper takes off on his summer break this morning and Brian Kerr heads to London intent on breaking the hearts of the Unity Cup's promoters by throwing senior debuts around like confetti, both men have good cause to be pleased with their first collaboration, Emmet Malone  reports

For Kerr there was a good deal to reflect positively on even before Matt Holland's fine late strike took the Dubliner's record since taking charge of this team to nine wins in 15 games.

For Keane there will surely be some satisfaction that his return was so popularly acclaimed while even the minority who booed when the Corkman appeared for the start of the game must have been quietly impressed by the way the 32-year-old, though clearly operating well within his capabilities, exerted his traditional influence on events in almost every area of the pitch.

The Irish win was hardly a great surprise as the Romanians, who arrived in Dublin with a record of just one defeat in their last 11 games, were missing quite a few regulars.

Up front, though, they fielded the same partnership that ran riot against Germany last month when Ionel Danciulescu marked his third appearance for his country with two goals in a 5-1 victory.

On the strength of their pace and movement last night it wasn't all that hard to see how he and Ioan Geanea had prospered that night in Bucharest for the pair looked lively as they latched on to some decent through balls from midfield to give Andy O'Brien and Kenny Cunningham a couple of early wake-up calls.

O'Brien, who won a couple of important balls in the air early on and was repeatedly on hand to tidy up as the visitors sought to play their way through the Irish back four, strengthened his case for the second centre-half's jersey with another composed performance.

Steve Finnan turned in a quietly efficient performance at right back while on the left Alan Maybury performed solidly enough after a couple of awkward first-half moments, the most notable of which involved Danciulescu stealing in between the Hearts defender and Cunningham only to push Florentin's fine through ball out of play with a terribly poor first touch.

In midfield both sides were occasionally guilty of some haphazard passing but the Irish regularly managed to leave their opponents standing with some fine exchanges.

Roy Keane, inevitably, was an impressive contributor to much of the home side's more effective work through the middle but either side of him Andy Reid and Liam Miller were again impressive with both displaying an almost casual ability to sidestep markers, lay neat first-time balls off to those around them and play strikers into good attacking positions. All of which should stand to them when Kerr sits down to the pick his teams for the autumn's opening qualifying games.

The edge Ireland enjoyed in midfield helped to generate a steady stream of good scoring chances but for Robbie Keane and, once again, Clinton Morrison it seemed to be one of those nights as the Romanians were repeatedly let off the hook.

The Tottenham striker, making his 50th senior appearance for the Republic, went close to scoring his 20th international goal on a couple of occasions but he always looked a little below his best, going down under pressure a little too easily, lacked a bit of pace and, on one particular occasion, taking what was clearly the wrong option by attempting a shot when both Reid and Morrison were much better placed.

It had been, however, a pass from Miller that reached Roy Keane thanks to a mistake by Sorin Ghionea that had given the locals perhaps their best chance of the game with less than 10 minutes played. Keane moved down the right and just into the box before slipping a perfectly judged cross into the path of Morrison, who connected with the ball just a couple of yards short of the line.

The Birmingham City player, whose strike-rate for the Republic looks less impressive these days after what is now an eight-match run without a goal, seemed certain to score but his shot was deflected wide instead off Romanian goalkeeper Bogdan Lobont.

As ever, though, Morrison worked tirelessly throughout and contributed a good deal to the Irish attack. Five minutes after the break the cross he sent in from the right for Robbie Keane should have led to a breakthrough for the Irish but Bogdan Stelea, a half-time substitute, did well to save low to his left and Roy Keane's follow-up wasn't well enough placed to add a hint of fairytale to the story of his return.

Undeterred, Morrison repeated the trick five minutes from time after a solid build-up that had involved Cunningham and Miller. This time Robbie Keane allowed the low ball to run on past him for Holland and the Charlton midfielder, who rarely bothers with scoring an ordinary goal, struck a fierce first-time shot towards the bottom right corner from 20 metres that Stelea got a hand to but couldn't keep out.

For some time before the goal the Romanians, despite occasional breaks and the odd half chance, had looked like a side that would be happy enough to head for home with a draw under their belts.

With their game disrupted by a succession of substitutions, however, the prospect of them bouncing back during the few minutes that remained always seemed remote and so Ireland, with debutant Martin Rowlands now on for Reid, coasted rather comfortably through to the final whistle.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Given (Newcastle United); Finnan (Liverpool), O'Brien (Newcastle United), Cunningham (Birmingham City), Maybury (Hearts); Miller (Celtic), Keane (Manchester United), Holland (Charlton Athletic), Reid (Nottingham Forest); Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Morrison (Birmingham City). Subs: Rowlands (QPR) for Reid (78 mins).

ROMANIA: Lobont; Dumitru, Radoi, Iencsi, Ghionea, Dancia; Plesan, Soava, Dica; Danciulescu, Ganea. Subs: Stelea for Lobont (half-time), Neaga and Aliuta for Danciulescu and Plesan (61 mins), M Petre and Alexa for Dancia and Dica (78 mins), Constianin for Radoi (84 mins), Niculae for Ganea (87 mins), O Petre and Barcauan for Soava and Iensci (92 mins).

Referee: J Jaroslav (Czech Republic).