Euro 2008 qualifying/ Germany 1 Republic of Ireland 0: There may be a world of difference between the dignified defeat achieved in Stuttgart on Saturday night and the results needed if Ireland are to challenge for Euro 2008 qualification but Steve Staunton needed his players to provide a display that suggested events at Lansdowne Road recently were something of an aberration.

That much at least had been achieved by the time he and his players had left the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadium.

In stark contrast to the way they had performed against the Dutch, when four of Saturday's most experienced starters had been missing, the Irish looked better organised and equipped for the challenge that faced them here.

They worked tirelessly to close generally more capable opponents down, kept their shape and, for the most part, defended set pieces reasonably well.

There was no shortage of suggestions from within the camp afterwards that they had actually been unlucky not to take away a point and, in fairness, they might have done so had Robbie Keane or Richard Dunne not narrowly missed the target with close range headers in the second and 92nd minutes respectively.

The reality, however, was that they were beaten by a German side that was lucky to score in the way it did 12 minutes into the second half but always looked the more likely to find the net and win the game.

While there are a good many positives for Staunton to take away from his first competitive game in charge, there is a significant downside too.

These were, more or less, the best 11 players available to the new manager and yet honesty and endeavour were the team's most readily identifiable qualities over the course of the 90 minutes.

Shay Given was, as ever, outstanding while both centre halves did very well and Kevin Doyle made a remarkable start to his competitive international career. But the campaign to uncover somebody capable of succeeding our departed midfield general once again yielded rather dispiriting results.

There were also worrying signs that Robbie Keane has become so preoccupied with captaining the team and providing much needed support to the men immediately behind him that, in big games at least, he will no longer have either the energy or the opportunity to do what he does best, steal away from his markers and threaten the opposition's goal.

On this occasion Keane was unfortunate to have a major hand in the game's only goal when he turned Lukas Podolsky's shot from the edge of the area past Given and into the bottom corner.

But the German's were not being unreasonable afterwards when they said that their luck had been earned with a strong performance that resulted in a good deal of pressure on the Irish defence and the creation of a handful of decent scoring chances.

The visitors were better before the break than after it but the best they could do even during the first half was a string of corners from which they failed to generate an actual attempt on goal.

The Germans, on the other hand, looked menacing both whether advancing in wide positions, sweeping into the Irish area from central midfield or lining up for set pieces.

For the most part their finishing was actually poor but Given was required to make a quite stunning save low to his right from Miroslav Klose 27 minutes in and a solid one not long after from Podolski, who immediately acknowledged the Donegalman's efforts.

In the second half the relentless work rate required of Ireland to stay in the game started to take its toll and the visitors found it increasingly difficult to push play much beyond the halfway line. A crucial outlet for his side early on, Damien Duff ran out of steam after being subjected to a couple of hefty challenges while Michael Ballack, entirely overshadowed by midfield partner Torsten Frings in the opening 45 minutes, began to make a major impact himself.

In the circumstances Kevin Kilbane coped as well as could have been hoped while John O'Shea's contribution was erratic, particularly when in possession, but workmanlike and Steven Reid tended to used the ball well when not preoccupied with the containment of Bastian Schweinsteiger.

At the back Richard Dunne successfully imposed himself on the World Cup's most prolific striking partnership while Andy O'Brien played a fine supporting role and did, at least, a good deal better than they had done against the Dutch.

With 15 minutes remaining Staunton was sent from the dugout for complaining too vehemently when a foul on Keane went unpunished but if the Spanish referee was really being so harsh on Ireland he could have handed the home side a penalty early on when Stephen Carr appeared to handle in the sort of circumstances that often give rise to a spot kick.

As it was Klose had been denied before the goal by another great Given save and only the crossbar prevented the striker doubling the German lead with a close-range header just after the midway point of the second half.

The Irish, meanwhile, created almost nothing of note with Duff getting past Philipp Lahm, who was obliged to play at right instead of left back due to injuries, several times but only once getting in a cross of real quality and when it came there was nobody there to turn the ball home.

A Reid free kick produced the only thing that might reasonably be described as a save by Lehmann whose back four rarely had to cope with anything more than a lone Irishman breaking out of his own half.

Against a team that beat Sweden, more than matched Argentina and only lost to World Champions Italy in the last moments of extra-time during the knockout stages of the World Cup, there is no great shame in any of that but this was perhaps the only match in the qualification campaign that losing well will be good enough for the Irish if they are really serious about challenging for one of the top two spots.

Still, it can for the moment be justifiably regarded as some sort of progress.