Harte, Kilbane prove a point

IT’S uncanny just how persistently Ireland’s players have contrived to prove to manager Brian Kerr that Mick McCarthy was right in his team selections; the impact made by Kevin Kilbane and Ian Harte just two of several examples.

Ireland's spirited second-half recovery against Australia at Lansdowne Road owed much to the drive and power of Kilbane on the left-wing. It was more obviously facilitated by brilliant use of the ball by Harte.

A disappointing series of performances in the World Cup and the emergence of John O'Shea suggested that Harte's international future was in some doubt. But the quietly-spoken Leeds full-back showed just what he is capable of bringing to the party in the last 30 minutes against Australia. Two sweetly struck passes one a close-range free for O'Shea and the other a sweeping crossfield ball to release Clinton Morrison were strokes of creative genius in the context of so much mediocrity.