Kevin Kilbane believes the Republic of Ireland will have learned some important lessons from their 3-0 friendly defeat to Australia in Limerick last night. With the key World Cup qualifier in Cyprus less than a month away coach Giovanni Trapattoni was left disappointed by the worst defeat in his 15 months in charge.
It was not the fine-tuning exercise the venerable Italian had hoped for ahead of their trip to the Mediterranean island on September 5th.
If his side were guilty of failing to take their chances then Trapattoni would have also been just as concerned with the way his defence switched off in a decisive seven-minute period at the end of the half.
The defence twice backed off their attackers and were twice made to pay by the ice-cool finishing of Tim Cahill, hardly a player to afford space in the area, as he struck after 38 and 44 minutes.
Kilbane admitted they could not afford similar lapses when they travel to Nicosia.
“The manager was a little disappointed, he always goes on about concentration and we have to be concentrated through the whole game,” Kilbane said afterwards.
“We had a few lapses in the first half and they took advantage of that. They’ve got Tim Cahill and he’s a master of finding space in the box. That is something we have to take from the game and learn from.”
Ireland were not without their chances, though, most notably Robbie Keane - who was expertly denied by Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer when the scores were still level.
Substitute Keith Andrews also hit a post late on, but the difference in finishing was illustrated in stoppage-time when David Carney crashed in a superb 30-yard strike.
Despite the size of the defeat, against a Socceroos side who sit 16th in FIFA’s rankings and who have already booked their place at the World Cup finals, Kilbane does not believe it will affect his team-mates’ confidence next month.
“I think probably there’ll be a lot read into the result but we know qualifications is what counts next month,” he said.
“We’ve used this game as a fitness exercise because we know we want to try and get sharpness going into the season and prepare for the Cyprus game. We will be fitter and stronger then, so we remain calm.”
