A lot done, more to do

The first fortnight of Martin O’Neill’s reign can only be seen as a very encouraging start, bringing back a feelgood factor to Irish football which hasn’t been there since before the Euros last year.

I know we were expected to beat a Latvian side that are positioned a lot lower than us in the world rankings but, as we have seen too often in the past, it’s not always as simple as that. That we won with something to spare made for a great start while, in a very different game and up against much stronger opposition in Poznan, a second clean sheet only added to the optimism.

As a club manager, he has always favoured playing with traditional wingers so it wasn’t a great surprise to see Aiden Mc Geady and James McClean occupying those berths. I was especially curious to see where he would play Marc Wilson, as he has filled numerous roles for club and country in recent seasons. The fact he played both matches at centre half would suggest that’s where Martin sees him in the long term, though we shouldn’t forget there was no Richard Dunne on this trip.