TEN minutes before kick-off and this is, to put it mildly, did not look like a promising evening. The team was a surprise, the pitch was in pretty poor shape and the swirling conditions inside a mostly empty stadium seemed to make for one of the more atrocious nights of football since... well, since we last played Wales over here I suppose.

As it turned out, though, what we got was an entertaining clash in which both sides created chances and managed to play a surprising amount of good, constructive football.

This was a good quick game which both sides will be pleased to have played but which Mick McCarthy will come away from, with by far the greater sense of satisfaction.

Over the 90 minutes it was his side who looked the better. They created the better of the scoring opportunities and, even though they didn't win it, there would be very few who would argue that they didn't deserve to.

If McCarthy wanted to see a determined display from his side then he wasn't let down because in stark contrast to some of the performances in friendlies, they battled hard in every area of the pitch and they comfortably won the tactical battle in midfield.

Roy Keane and Steve Staunton both turned in classy performances while always giving the impression that they could move up a gear if that was what the situation had required.

In front of them, Alan McLoughlin proved once again what an asset he is. Throughout the first half he caused the Welsh problems and, with Vinnie Jones obviously reluctant to track back after him, he found space inside the box on several occasions and was more than a little unlucky not to score.

Also a little unfortunate in that department was Jon Goodman who will have made quite an impression with the Irish management team on his first appearance in an Irish shirt.

For the whole of the game, the Wimbledon striker worked hard to create passing opportunities for those coming through from midfield and laying the ball off well to those around him.

He appears to bring considerable versatility to the strike force because he is halfway between being a tough striker in the traditional sense and a skilful front runner.

He certainly has the strength to hold up the ball while waiting for support but his first touch, ability to run across defenders and lose markers with a clever first touch were all very impressive.

It's early days for him at the moment and perhaps it would be foolish to rave about him too much at this point, but he certainly looks to be a useful addition to the panel.

Likewise Keith Branagan who did everything that could have been expected of him last night and will take a good deal of heart from having kept a clean sheet on his first outing for his country.

In front of him the defence played very well but conditions were far from ideal on the night and he coped well with everything that was thrown at him.

The fact that he had so few clear-cut scoring opportunities to deal with was a credit to the three-man defence with Paul McGrath looking as cool and collected as ever, while Ian Harte and Kenny Cunningham adapted well to the more central roles.

McCarthy has shown clearly at this stage that he prefers the two men on the outside of his defence to be full backs as it allows him considerable flexibility and gives the team far greater mobility.

Given that he is falling down with talented wing backs, the decision to give another couple of players a run was well justified on the night and he is amassing a growing pool of players who have played for him in that position and know what he expects of people in that situation.

That can only be good for everyone concerned including McGrath who can build up an understanding with different colleagues while allowing them to get used to the precise role that he plays in the side.

All in all, then, a very worthwhile exercise for the team and one that will stand to them when they head off to Macedonia and Romania. In those matches the challenge will probably be a bit tougher and certainly you would expect to come up against strikers with pace rather than the power possessed by Hughes and Hartson but, nevertheless, McCarthy will be glad to be heading back into action on the back of this sort of performance.

It will boost confidence amongst all of the players as well as competition for places in several important areas of the pitch and when some of those who were absent last night return to the reckoning in April, one or two just might come to regret not having made it along for a run out in the wind, rain and mud of Cardiff.