Players' reaction: Granted, there wasn't quite the same at stake at Lansdowne Road last night as there was in Tel Aviv on Saturday but for the likes of Paddy Kenny, Alan Maybury, Richard Dunne, Graham Kavanagh and Stephen Elliott - and, indeed, Andy Reid - the game against China did at least present another opportunity to show Brian Kerr their worth ahead of the bigger days to come.

The six, of course, watched from the sidelines at the Ramat Gan stadium and while, barring injuries, perhaps only Reid has realistic hopes of breaking into the starting 11 for the games against Israel and the Faroe Islands in June, all savoured the chance to show that, should they be required, they're up to the job.

Man-of-the-match Kavanagh's only regret was he didn't round off what was generally a disappointing evening for the team with what would have been a peach of a goal - except having created the chance for himself he fired straight at the Chinese goalkeeper. "I should have scored - I did everything, hit the target but I should have kept it down a little bit more," he said, "but all in all it was a good work-out for us.

"Physically, yeah, it was hard because all the boys are very tired, it was a long journey back on Sunday and we got delayed too. Then the pitch wasn't the best tonight, made it hard to use the ball, it was very bobbly so you had to be certain of your touch.

"They didn't surprise us, we'd seen videos of them so we knew they could pass the ball well but I think if we'd got an early goal we'd have got a couple more - the fact we didn't meant we made it difficult for ourselves, the game became a lot harder, but we were delighted at least to have the clean sheet."

Due to his half-time withdrawal Damien Duff was first to appear from under the shadow of the West Stand. Showered, shaved and ready for the Champions League. The early arrival meant he was first to be ambushed by the waiting dictaphones. As ever, he was pleased to play for Ireland in front friends and family but why a friendly was being played at such a point in the domestic season didn't add up to him.

"Probably wasn't the prettiest of games. It was always going to be hard after the disappointment on Saturday and the stage we are at in the season. It is probably a silly friendly in the first place really, considering the amount of important games the players have. Always going to be hard but another win.

"We were desperate to win and keep the run going at Lansdowne, especially with important qualifiers ahead."

What about the media criticism of the late slip in Israel? "I didn't read any of the papers," he reminded the journalists, "but we definitely should have won. We had plenty of possession and it was there for all to see. Obviously two points dropped but when have we ever made life easy for ourselves?"

Clinton Morrison will trust that, come June, he will be assured of his place in the starting line-up, not least because he's finally finding his scoring touch at international level. And, like Saturday's against Israel, last night's winner was beautifully taken.

"Yeah, happy with that one," he said. "I saw the 'keeper running out and I didn't think he'd get back, so I just lobbed it over him. It was nice, yeah," he beamed. "Just pleased to score the winner. It was a scrappy game I think, some of the lads were tired, we've done a lot of travelling.

"I was a bit disappointed not to start," said Morrison, "but you have to try other players in case anyone gets injured, I understand that. I'm just pleased to get the run-out, another cap and another goal."