Poland 0 Rep of Ireland 0

They made a little less noise at the end than they had following the dismal defeats at the Euros but the tiny band of Irish travelling supporters still reckoned they had something to sing about after seeing their side held out for a draw against Poland in Poznan. And they didn’t seem to mind too much whether or not Roy Keane approved.

His boss will draw positives from the way his side started then kept their hosts at bay through a second half in which they were completely dominated. His suggestion on Monday that the amount of work that lies ahead would be apparent through the game proved true, too, though with the Irish a little lucky at times that Poland couldn’t quite turn their possession and superior passing into something a little more menacing.

There were times when the David Forde’s defenders winged it a little but the goalkeeper’s few real saves were prompted by shots from distance and none over the course of the 90 minutes needed to be remotely spectacular.

O’Neill made seven changes to the side that started on Friday night, enough to ensure that Alex Pearce was the only outfield squad member not to have been involved as the game kicked off, though he got his chance in the second half when he replaced James McCarthy.

Having said O’Shea would most likely captain the side, the northerner left him out, partnering Seán St Ledger with Marc Wilson in central defence instead and giving the armband to Jon Walters. The Sunderland defender was involved soon enough, though, with St Ledger limping off 32 minutes in with a groin injury and within five of that the 32-year-old was gravely upsetting the locals by brazenly raising a hand to stop the ball when Robert Lewandowski had knocked it over his head into space. The Pole was the clear favourite to reach the ball first.

Until then, the Borussia Dortmund striker had been handled well enough by Wilson whose efforts to get tight to his man caused the occasional bit of friction. The northerner still shows a worrying inclination to play with fire at times and when he got caught out by the striker in a game of double bluff he was fortunate only to concede a throw.

Either side of them, the full-backs showed a reasonable amount of enterprise early on as Ireland more than held their own but towards the end of the half Poland began to gain momentum and they might well have opened the scoring from a move that started when Stephen Ward needlessly played a pass without taking a touch and gifted the home side the opportunity to break.

Jakub Blaszczykowski was the one who eventually tried but narrowly failed to find his club-mate on that occasion and the Polish skipper proved a major threat all night, playing just a little deeper than the striker but showing an eagerness to take on defenders or slice the back four open with low through balls.

The Irish, for their part, seemed to thrive on the openness of it all for a while with Shane Long working hard to provide a focus for his side’s attempts to get forward, many of them driven on by Aiden McGeady who, at least for a while here, looked completely reinvigorated. The Spartak winger’s set pieces were certainly key to the threat Ireland posed for the time he was involved. His early corner flicked by Walters for, Kelly whose close range header flew almost straight down before bouncing over, while a free was helped on by Walters but a little too much so for Anthony Stokes to connect at the far post.

From play, the Irish created little of note, even while they were doing well, although when the Poles failed to clear properly, they did manage a cross, courtesy of Ward, that McGeady might have been expected to make much more off.

Generally, though, the 27 year-old’s energy and enterprise was important to the visitors and, as he gradually drifted out of things, so too did O’Neill’s team, really.

With Paul Green shouldering the bulk of the defensive burden in central midfield, McCarthy had a little freedom to push on and proved adept at getting into space on the edge of area, looking to capitalise on loose balls.

When one came his way, though, from a Wojciech Szczesny punch, his attempt to shoot low was blocked down when lifting the ball had looked the better option.

Green worked tirelessly and may have actually have done enough in the past week to defy those who assume he’ll be one of the losers when the new manager starts naming his own squads. Gradually, though, Ireland became swamped and for long stretches of the second half it became backs to the wall stuff, albeit with none of the desperation that one would expect in a competitive encounter.

When Pearce came on for McCarthy, Wilson moved into midfield before being replaced himself as, it seemed, he began to struggle a little. Things were reshaped a little more significantly in attack with Kevin Doyle getting on for Stokes and Wes Hoolahan set the task of providing a link to the striker.

Poland continued to dominate, though, even without the departed Lewandowski who was replaced an hour in by current local favourite Lukasz Teodorczyk.

Forde did well even if he didn’t actually have a stand out save to make, but he did give his back four a fright at one stage when an attempted clearance from outside his area went high before landing back in the danger zone.

When it mattered, though, he looked to be on top of things and he, like his manager, will be pleased with the clean sheet. A better team would have denied them both that but that, of course, is why neither of these two have nothing more pressing to worry about other than the next Euros.