The pride and the passion were there. The passing, at times, was perfection itself. If Ireland could only have added finishing to their armoury at Lansdowne Road last night, then truly, there is no telling where it all might have ended.

As it was goals from Mark Kinsella and Richard Dunne were enough to give Mick McCarthy's side what they had most wanted from their third World Cup Group Two qualifying match - the points. That there might easily have been half a dozen more will not have concerned the Ireland coach too much last night. With Louis van Gaal still looking for a first home win, our man will scarcely have been reading his lads the riot act in the dressing room afterwards.

For his goalscorers the night was especially memorable. Kinsella's opener, after 25 minutes, was his first in 19 appearances for his country while Dunne's, far more remarkably, was his second in six. Still out of favour back at Goodison Park, the 20 year-old has not only earned a bit of an international reputation over threes past few months. His strike rate in a green jersey, at one in three, is currently the same as that of Robbie Keane, his childhood friend from Tallaght.

Keane might well have added to his own tally of seven last night with the Milan based striker going close on a couple of occasions against an Estonian whose effort was about the only thing that couldn't have been faulted.

Overall, though, Keane's contribution was outstanding with the youngster again showing himself ready to show anywhere for a teammate who might be in a position to give him the ball. With more cause to be disappointed as he wandered off at the end was his striking partner Niall Quinn whose apparently endless string of goalscoring opportunities failed to yield what would have been a record breaking 21st goal for the Republic.

It's difficult even to pick out the Sunderland's striker's best chances for, at times, they came thick and fact, but twice in the first half and once in the second he had clearcut chances to find the target with his head from close range. The nearest he came was one brush with the top of the crossbar.

Like the younger Keane, though, Quinn's night was far from a washout and while Ian Harte's long angled ball in the 25th minute marked the start of the move that led to Ireland's first goal, it was the big Dubliner's marvellous control and lay-off that presented Kinsella with the shooting opportunity. The suspicion was that the determined resistance of the visitors would quickly start to crumble almost as soon as his strike beat Derby County's Mart Poom to the bottom left corner of the goal. In fact, they battled on even if they were fortunate not to catch the Irish on a more ruthless evening.

By the time McCarthy's men had taken the lead the game had already slipped into a very discernable pattern with the Estonians defending deeply and in numbers while their hosts picked away at them in every manner imaginable. On the flanks there were rich pickings for both Kevin Kilbane and Jason McAteer each of whom soon discovered that they had the very comfortable beating of their men.

Inside them, Mark Kinsella and Roy Keane pulled the strings and dictated the flow of Ireland's attacks while up front Quinn, operating much closer to the opposition goal than he had had the opportunity to in his previous two games, caused endless problems for the visiting defenders.

Having had fantastic nights in both Holland and Portugal, though, there was always the possibility that Gary Breen and Richard Dunne were due one to forget. Early on there were hints that it had arrived.

Three times during those opening 45 minutes badly misplaced passes by one or other of them left team mates scrambling to provide cover and, presumably, Alan Kelly's pulse racing.

The greatest scare scare, though came moments before Kinsella's goal at the other end, when neither was on hand to prevent Sergei Terehov turning a long ball inside to Indrek Zelinski who suddenly found himself in the heart of the box and with time on his hands. Thankfully Kelly was quick to react and get forward off his line but even at that he was a little fortunate that the striker shot straight at him.

In the second period they seemed to decide that getting forward was the best solution to their problems and, as Ireland came to tighten their grip on the contest, the opportunities began to come their way. When the Republic finally earned a corner on the left six minutes after the break, Ian Harte swung it in, Breen and Quinn got touches before the Everton man produced a close range drive that almost took Mart Poom with it to the back of the net.

There should have been more and Kilbane might face some discreet questioning from the strikers regarding his part in limiting their chances to add to the team's advantage. Repeatedly during the last quarter of the game, the 23 year-old winger whizzed past the Teet Allas and towards Poom's goal. Just about every time Robbie Keane and Quinn arrived expecting the cross only to see the Sunderland winger try a shot himself.

Republic Of Ireland: A Kelly, Carr, Breen, Dunne, Harte, McAteer (Duff 46), Kinsella, R Keane, Kilbane (Foley 87), R Keane (Finnan 87), N Quinn. Subs not used: Holland, Staunton, Kiely, Delap.

Estonia: Poom, Lamslau, Stepanov, Allas, Saviauk, Viikmae (Haavistu 68), Terekhov, Oper, Anniste, Reim, Zelinski (Ustritski 68). Subs not used: Tohver, Jurisson, Kristal. Attendance: 34,562