One of the inevitable consequences of Ireland's recent heroics in Amsterdam and Lisbon is that the home crowd will converge on Lansdowne Road tonight in party mood. Mick McCarthy may have fielded stronger sides than this in terms of personnel and experience but never before has he sent out a team glowing with such a sense of conviction and generating such overwhelming expectancy.
The optimism is not misplaced - Ireland can and, I believe, will take three points off Estonia this evening but a key virtue, for players and spectators alike, is patience. We have struggled against brawny, densely packed opposition before and while it would be nice to see two, three goal-bound gems streaking past Mart Poom, we ought to be more than content with a scrappy 1-0 victory. Mick McCarthy has already stated as much.
The key for the manager tonight essentially involves flipping the collective mindset. On the Continent over the past few games, we shielded ourselves behind all the qualities typical of any side visiting talented international opposition - caution, intense concentration, tenacious marking, unceasing work rate and pragmatism. Against Holland, we combined those virtues with some wonderful possession phases and were unlucky not to have taken all the points after a very fine performance. Against Portugal, the quality dipped but the sense of spirit and fight did not betray us.
Tonight, though, the team will have to abandon their conservatism and resume a more expansive brand of football. We need to win this and have to find ways of breaking Estonia down. It would be depressing to see Ireland revert to the dreary reliance on set pieces and the long, aimless hoof up towards Niall Quinn. Those options have long proven themselves dormant. Under McCarthy, though, Ireland have demonstrated an increasingly diverse attacking repertoire, illuminated by Jason McAteer's strike from nothing against the Dutch and Matt Holland's already famous goal in the Stadium of Light.
There is a sense now that we don't know exactly where Ireland's goals might come from and to me, that is hugely encouraging. Robbie Keane will score, given sufficient possession and Niall Quinn is always likely to stick one away but when your midfielders also start to get forward as genuine threats, then you have to be happy.
It is not surprising that McCarthy opted for the same team. It might have been tempting to run with Damien Duff on the right instead of McAteer. The youngster went through a stagnant period at Blackburn but his career is taking on a new momentum now and he is a delightfully inventive prospect who made maximum use of his limited minutes against Portugal. That said, McAteer has a great work ethic and seems to be on the verge of again realising the full extent of his potency in attack and is, in balance, deserving of his shirt.
We have a number of options in attack. Steve Carr will overlap from the back at every given opportunity and Ian Harte certainly isn't averse to getting forward. Even if Mark Kennedy's recently publicised night on the tiles had never occurred, I'm not sure he would be able to dislodge Kevin Kilbane from the team as the Sunderland winger has made a tremendously impressive start to the season at both club and international level.
McCarthy's new central defensive partnership has emerged as perhaps the great success of this World Cup campaign and tonight should be relatively straightforward for them after their nights with Kluivert etc. Plaudits to the manager for having the courage to go with them and to the duo for performing so admirably. So often in recent campaigns, it seemed that a good night's work was unhinged due to one brief and fatal lapse in the centre of defence. That that has not happened is due in part to Breen and young Richard Dunne but also, I feel, because of the superb cover offered by Mark Kinsella and Roy Keane, a partnership that has cemented into a formidable and integral aspect of this team.
It will be interesting to study Robbie Keane this evening. Prodigious against Holland - he seemed to grow in the company of the illustrious home stars - he was off form in Portugal, with his touch and control deserting him on a number of occasions. We forget, perhaps, that the Dublin lad is still developing and it is only natural that he should have the odd frustrating night. But we will have a generous amount of possession this evening and it is not too much to expect that we work the ball imaginatively up front and that our attackers hold it. Keane and Quinn have more than enough to bother Lemasalu and Stpehanov and Poom, the Derby county keeper, has been promisingly porous thus far in the Premiership.
Estonia will thwart and compete and try to sting us from a corner or on the break. But if we work hard for an early goal, then the home fans might enjoy the Mardi Gras atmosphere they are hoping for. The longer the Estonians frustrate us, the tougher it will become for Ireland.
But Ireland have come through two massive psychological and physical tests with an enhanced reputation. They will contemplate nothing less than a win here and nothing less will do. Because this is only brickwork. We have, as ever, a long and arduous road ahead and what we will see, as this group progresses, is Holland and Portugal winning often and winning big. They are the sides we are hoping to emulate and ultimately eclipse.
In an interview with Emmet Malone.
