Job done, just.

Saturday night was job done, but it was far from pretty.

Indeed if it wasn’t such a vital game you would have switched it over. However as we had been reminded ad nauseum, there were vital World Cup points at stake. It was a case of get there, get the points and get the hell out of Dodge City.

Maybe familiarity breeds contempt but I am no fan of the island. Numbers were down on the travelling support, but that has been true throughout the campaign. However more bizarre was the complete absence of home support.

The early goal was brilliant and it was over and above expectations to make a breakthrough so early. For the next ten minutes or so I was very impressed, we pushed on, we had them on the rack and then inexplicably we decided to ease off. Given’s save immediately after the goal was warning enough of the threat that the home side posed, but Ireland seemed powerless to react. There was debate over whether we were being swamped by the extra Cypriot in the midfield but it is hard to know with the current pairing in the middle.

I’m a big Kilbane fan, but his place is definitely under threat after another poor enough showing. I thought he was slow coming out to close down for the Cypriot goal. Furthermore, some of his distribution out of defence was abysmal.
The front two both scored which is what you want, but there are areas for improvement all around the pitch. The midfield is still a conundrum, but if that shot of Whelan’s had gone in then it may have been glossed over. Duff kept coming in off the line, how I long from the days when he just put his head down and went for the touchline.

As the time ticked down I just couldn’t see where the goal was coming from. Anyone who was a recipient of a text message from me on the night will be aware that I was far from confident on our ability to get a second. As the Independent wrote about a toxic performance by Ireland, the NAMA of te side Robbie Keane popped up to grab us the points, and salvation. It was the old one two, Duff and Keane that did the damage and we were out of there with the desired result.

As we head to Croker the old FF election slogan comes to mind “A lot done, more to do”. The result this week in Turin may give us a clearer picture of just what we are aiming for next month, but there is still room for improvement.