Republic of Ireland 3 Uruguay 1
If this game was supposed to represent the midway point in the metamorphosis between a side set up for a post season tour and one selected for a World Cup qualifier then the good news is that the journey looked more than half complete. This was a good win and most of those who stepped in in the wake of the defeat by Mexico seem likely to feature next Sunday against Austria, a game which Ireland, on the strength of this performance, can approach with some confidence.
Goals from Jon Walters, Cyrus Christie and James McClean gave the locals their first ever victory over the former world champions and while it was not a flawless performance from Ireland, it was their best in a friendly for some time with key players doing enough to persuade the manager, once suspects, that they can be trusted to cope with the sterner test the Austrians can be expected to provide.
That his players will have to be a little more tuned in than they looked over the earlier stages of this game goes without saying but the manager is bound to have been pleased with the bulk of the performance, not least the passages of midfield passing and use of the flanks that at least points to the sort of approach O’Neill talks about perfecting.
The presence of Harry Arter clearly helped, with the Bournemouth midfielder playing a key part in making the home side tick. But Christie's performance will have been of at least as much significance to O'Neill given that he little option but to start him in the next few games, while Shane Duffy looked to have shaken off the chronic uncertainty that characterised his display against Mexico in New Jersey this week.
Less so Darren Randolph, who committed the sort of error for Uruguay's goal that is generally seen as having cost him his place at West Ham this season. The 30-year-old might be entitled to feel that he has done well enough in competitive outings to keep his place but his failure to get to Carlos Sanchez's floated free shortly before the break after having decided to commit himself has left the manager with a decision to make.
Randolph was not helped by the fact that Keiren Westwood did well after coming on and made a fine save from Jose Gimenez, the same player who had capitalised to score in the first half, after opting to stay on his line in similar circumstances.
The pity of it is that Ireland looked solid enough here to have kept a clean sheet with Uruguay limited, for the most chances, to half chances, most of them from soft frees conceded around the area, while Ireland might really have had a goal or two more.
The visitors’ defending was erratic and mistakes contributed to all three of the goals they conceded, but Ireland took those chances well and created others of quality, not least late on when James McClean’s power and pace down the left caused the sort of problems it is supposed to but rarely did in the game against Mexico.
His finish for the third goal certainly suggested that his confidence has been unaffected by the below-par performance he produced when handed the task of captaining the side and shouldering a far larger part of the defensive responsibilities.
At least as significant, though, was the precision with which Ireland executed the counter-attack that provided the chance with Arter and Daryl Murphy both having a major hand in things after Uruguay had carelessly coughed up possession well inside the home side's half.
Walters’s strike was tremendous too, although after some initial uncertainty, he was lucky to be gifted the ball back, then left to tee things up by a Uruguayan back four that, for all its individual quality, might pick up a tip or two when the team takes on Italy later this week.
Christie won't be complaining about their shortcomings here, though with the right back rounding off a strong overall display with a goal thanks to a mistake by Sebastian Coates, whose haphazard attempt to cut out a rather harmless looking shot cannot have made life any easier for his goalkeeper.
Kevin Long got his first senior start for Ireland and these two friendly games might eventually take on a greater significance if the players handed chances go on to greater things. As it stands, though, the far greater focus was clear. O'Neill will look at the way Robbie Brady, Glenn Whelan and a couple of other more established players impressed upon their return and feel that a strong start to the World Cup qualifying campaign can be maintained in a week's time.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Randolph (Westwood, half-time); Christie, Duffy (Pearce, 60 mins), Long, Ward; Whelan (Hoolahan, half-time), Arter; Brady, Hendrick (McClean, 73 mins), Hayes (McGeady, 60 mins); Walters (Murphy, 60 mins).
URUGUAY: Conde; Pereira (Ricca, 63 mins), Gimenez, Coates, Caceres; Vecino, Rios (Gonzalez, half-time), Sanchez (Nandez, half-time), Laxalt (Silva, half-time); Urretaviscaya, Cavani (Stuani, 13 mins).
Referee: C Thompson (Scotland).
