Republic of Ireland 2 Oman 0
The win must be welcome but it would be interesting to know how much Martin O’Neill really feels he learned from this low-key victory. More, one suspects, than anyone from Tbilisi who might have made the long journey to Dublin on a reconnaissance mission, but then the manager will surely have liked it that way.
His team selection certainly suggested he was saving most of his big guns for Georgia where the hosts are sure to make life just a little bit more uncomfortable. Some made appearances from the bench late on but the starting line-up was more “mixed” than would have been expected and from that point of view, the nature of the win will have been pleasing enough.
Kevin Doyle and Alex Pearce got the goals that delivered it in front of an official attendance of 14,376 and there could easily have been one or two more goals for them to celebrate over the course of a game that Ireland largely dominated.
Only for short spells did the supporting cast produce anything like real star quality but then they weren't entirely shown up by the likes of Robbie Keane, Shane Long or Glenn Whelan who arrived over the course of the second half without substantially changing the nature of the contest.
The pace of it was generally pedestrian but even then Ireland took a little while to get going. Several of the players had been selected primarily because they haven't been getting game time at their clubs and the rustiness showed with Robbie Brady, for instance, landing his own side in trouble more than once over the opening stages with uncharacteristically sloppy passes that presented opponents opportunities to launch moves towards the Irish goal.
There weren't too many of them, in truth, but there was the very occasional scare as when centre backs Richard Keogh and Pearce both stood off a harmless loose ball long enough to allow Eid Al-Farsi to get onto it 30 metres out. The midfielder should have done better but rushed his shot when really, there was no need. Both defenders must have been relieved to see Shay Given gather so easily. It wasn't far off the last thing the 38-year-old had to do all night.
Gradually, Ireland settled into it and began to look the better team. Eventually, they started to pretty much run the show but there was little intensity and only the odd flourish as when Anthony Pilkington stepped over the ball early on and took off down the right before crossing low for Brady who might have done better.
The Hull City star redeemed himself with a perfectly weighted corner from which Doyle opened the scoring; the striker timing his arrival well and getting in front of a cluster of three defenders to send a glancing header past Ali Al-Habsi.
There were some more like that, a lesser one that still led to the second goal plus one that, on a training ground, might have been taken for some class of score-settling with David Meyler, who did well to hold himself upright as he hobbled away after the impact.
Still, the winger ultimately made his point and with James McClean withdrawing from the squad for Sunday’s game he may well have significantly advanced his case by the end for a start in the qualifier.
Darron Gibson looked like he might still have a way to go before he's completely ready for a central role in a qualifying game. The Everton midfielder's distribution here, albeit under almost no pressure, was good but he looked off the pace of things and was booked shortly before departing for a late challenge that, one hopes, owed a good deal to tiredness.
Beside him, Stephen Quinn again looked capable, whether tidying things up or changing the direction of things while sitting deep or, occasionally, pushing forward towards the opposition area.
Meyler was a less likely success story in the unfamiliar role of right back and, having made his senior debut the last time Ireland played Oman, the Corkman came close to getting his first international goal late in the first half when Brady’s cross was punched by Al-Habsi and the makeshift defender coolly engineered his opportunity, stepping one way then the other before letting fly with a shot that came clattering back of the left-hand angle.
Pearce had a header cleared off the line around the same time but he wasn’t to be denied in the second half when another Brady corner was played his way by Keogh and he too showed a lot of composure to twice call Abdul Salam Al-Mukhaini’s bluff before burying his low shot just inside the left hand post.
Aiden McGeady, meanwhile, deserved one himself with the winger, who looked the most lively of Ireland’s six substitutes, going very close twice but he denied once by a Mohammed Al-Musalami’s goal-line block and then by the woodwork.
On another day, those chances might have been the basis for a hard luck story but here the win was already in the bag. It’s hard to imagine that it will be anything like as easy at the weekend but if O’Neill did still have issues to resolve with regard to that game, he might just feel there were signposts here that help point the way to victory.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Given (Aston Villa); Meyler (Hull City), Keogh (Derby County, capt) , Pearce (Reading), Ward (Burnley); Gibson (Everton), S Quinn (Hull City); Pilkington (Cardiff City), Hoolahan (Norwich City), Brady (Hull City); Doyle (Crystal Palace).
Subs: Elliott (Newcastle United) for Given (half-time), McGeady (Everton) for Pilkington, Keane (LA Galaxy) for Doyle, Long (Southampton) for Hoolahan (all 59 mins), Whelan (Stoke City) for Gibson (70 mins), Murphy (Ipswich Town) for Meyler (86 mins).
OMAN: A Al-Habsi; S Al-Mukhaini, A Al-Mukhaini, Al-Owaisi, Al-Musalami, Al-Ghailani; Saleh, Al-Farsi, Al-Muhaijri, Al-Siyabi; Hardan.
Subs: Al-Busaidi for Al-Ghailini, Al-Qasmi for Hardan and Al-Jabri for Al-Muhaijri (all 60 mins), Al-Hadhri for Al-Sibiye (76 mins), Al-Muqbali for Al-Farsi (81 mins), Al-Mashari for Saleh (87 mins).
Referee: I Spathas (Greece).
