This was an excellent, professional performance: upbeat and entertaining, it will have pleased all concerned with Irish football. Ireland took the game by the scruff of the neck and never let go until the first raft of substitutions and even then they were able to pick up the tempo again in the closing stages.

The Irish attitude to the match was first class and they dominated from the first whistle against a Denmark side who came to Dublin to play football. They looked a little unsure in the first half but the Danes had a proper tilt at Ireland after half-time and posed a lot more questions. With the exception of one dodgy back pass, the Irish defence had the answers.

One of the most pleasing aspects of last night's game for Mick McCarthy was a couple of individual performances. Damien Duff was superb on the left wing and offers an option to his manager.

If Mick decides Kevin Kilbane or Mark Kennedy are not playing well enough to command that position, then Duff would be an excellent alternative: we are assuming that Mick's first choice would be to play Duff in a central role.

He tormented his marker with quick feet, going past him at will, and getting in some high-quality crosses. He was deserving of his accolade as man of the match on a night when there were plenty of decent performances.

If Duff can maintain sort of form and enjoy that type of impact in a game this summer then Ireland are going to reap huge dividends. It's not just his ability to beat the man but the excellence of the final delivery that makes it very hard for defenders to cope.

Clinton Morrison was very lively from the start and engineered a couple of chances. He didn't manage to get the required venom into his shots but it was good to see him getting into those positions, using his strength and pace to good effect.

His reward came late on when he grabbed the third, showing good composure and predatory instincts. He will have benefited hugely from starting last night's game and a couple of other opportunities will accelerate his development.

There must be some concern about Ian Harte's positional play at times. Once again he was caught out by the long diagonal ball and that could have been very costly were it not for a fine save from Dean Kiely. He took his goal extremely well - it was a fine header - but he will have to smarten up on his defensive responsibilities.

Better teams will look to exploit this, but in fairness we don't have a great deal of options in this area and Harte does bring a lot to the party in terms of a positive contribution going forward.

The central defensive combination of Steve Staunton and Kenny Cunningham looked assured on the night and I think they could prove to be Ireland's best pairing to shore up the middle of the defence. They look comfortable together, unflustered and experienced, and coped easily with the threat that the Danes posed in attack.

There was good concentration in all sectors and this was epitomised by Kiely's save. He had nothing to do for 15 or 20 minutes at a time yet managed to perform when required. Roy Keane's absence was hardly noticed as the central midfield duo of Mark Kinsella and Mattie Holland set about their duties with relish.

Mick will be very happy knowing that should anything deny him the services of Keane then he has an experienced and hard-working combination to throw together. It's a pity we can't pack up Lansdowne Road and bring it to Japan and Korea. The pitch surface makes it very uncomfortable for visiting teams when Ireland up the tempo and harry the opposition.

You could see one or two Danes looking a little perplexed as they tried to control the ball and their footing. Whether Ireland can play that hurry-up brand of football, putting the opposition under sustained pressure when they are in possession, in the heat and humidity of Asia will be a tough ask of the players.

You could not fault the application or the performance levels of the team last night. They produced a very good performance that oozed professionalism on a night when there was nothing tangible at stake. That augurs well for the future and for the supporters, who were treated to a great night's entertainment.

Winning is a healthy habit when looking for future success.

• In an interview with John O'Sullivan