Chink of light in Faroe fog

THE Republic of Ireland today sit at the top of Group Four of the 2006 World Cup.

And they will remain there at least until September 3 when France - three points and one game behind Brian Kerr’s men - welcome the Faroe Islands to the Stade de France. The spectacle in Paris will be, it’s fair to say, a little different to the scene last night in Torshavn.

Brian Clough, who liked to see the ball zipping across the turf, used to say that God never intended for football to be played in the clouds.

But there wasn’t much of an alternative in the Faroese capital as the elevated location of the humble Torsvollur Stadium left the players of both sides exposed to sheeting rain, rolling fog and gusting winds.

It may have been a crucial World Cup qualifying game - aren’t they all? - but on a bumpy pitch in front of a small, sodden crowd, it was hardly a night for heroes. Unless they hailed from these parts.

What was required of the visitors wasn’t a fancy exhibition of the beautiful game, but a professional, focussed, even ruthless job, befitting their status as a team of Premiership footballers, and one - Ian Harte - just recently acquainted with the top flight in Spain.

For their part, the Faroes’ nothing-to-lose approach had always ensured they would be game competitors if not technical equals. In circumstances like these, that can sometimes be enough to close a yawning gap. But only if the top dogs lets them.

And for a good 30 minutes of the first half, the underdog was having its day. Every Faroese corner, tackle, pass and shot, however ambitious or wayward, was cheered as a small victory for the home side. They played as if entirely uninhibited by nerves; the Irish were the ones feeling the pressure from before a ball was even kicked.

It showed in a lot of sloppy play early on, when there was little opportunity for Sunderland’s Stephen Elliott to display his predatory instincts on his competitive debut. When the ball did reach him, he was constantly buffeted by the Faroes’ burly rearguard and struggled to make it stick.

It was close to half-time before the young Dubliner got a proper sight of the target, but luck was not with him as his sharp response to the rebound, after Andy Reid’s shot had been parried by Jakup MIkkelden, flew off the bar and over. A moment later, he did well to outjump the keeper for a high ball but from an acute angle could only hook his shot across the face of the goal.

But, as his confidence visibly grew, there was even better to come from the player Brian Kerr had brought in to fill Robbie Keane’s boots.

And there needed to be an improvement all ‘round because, up until the break, the Irish had little to show for their laboured efforts. One especially fine passing move had culminated with Clinton Morrison tapping in after seven minutes but the linesman waved the striker offside. Roy Keane was booked for complaining, but at that point some of us wondered if the linesman’s intervention hadn’t been a good thing, given this team’s slippery grasp of an early lead.

Still, the failure to create a breakthrough caused little ripples of anxiety throughout the team but especially at the back where John O’Shea, in for Andy O’ Brien at centre-half, had moments of uncertainty, and Stephen Carr found himself busy containing the threat from the Faroese left-side.

Round the half-hour mark they had the home supporters on their feet when first Lakjuni got in behind the Irish full-back to squeeze a shot just wide of Given’s far post and then, in the very next attack, when Flotum fired wide from a similar position, after the ball had been given away cheaply in midfield by Kevin Kilbane.

From the start of the second period, the Irish went about their task with new purpose, as if suddenly waking up to their proper billing as clear favourites. The tempo was quicker and the pressure more sustained, as the green shirts went forward in numbers, with O’Shea now looking more composed as he got into advanced positions.

And the momentum was rewarded when Elliott, his lively movement now a real threat, was brought down by Mikkelsen. Ian Harte duly obliged, banging the penalty into the top corner.

Now the test was simple, if anything in this logic-defying group can be so described: could the Irish maintain their advantage? Or better still, extend it? The answer came eight minutes later when, after a further spell of pressure the ball fell to Kevin Kilbane 20 yards out and his deflected shot beat the Faroese ‘keeper.

We have all learned by now that just two will not necessarily do. In the event, a third was not required but if anyone deserved a goal, it was 21-year-old Elliott - not just for his threat around the box and canny use of the ball, but also for an honest work rate which at times saw him tracking back into midfield to win the ball.

The usual suspect, Mr Duff, was never really in the running - literally as well as metaphorically. Perhaps feeling the effects of a long season, we saw little of Duff’s proven ability to terrorise the opposition defence. One feels that the break in footballing hostilities has come at just the right time for Ireland’s most valuable player.

A 2-0 win for the Irish in Torshavn may have restored a semblance of sanity to a group in which none of the three frontrunners has yet managed a decisive win at the top of the table.

But the outcome is still as hard to call as ever. When France are hosting the Faroes, Switzerland will be at home to Israel, but the next critical date on the World Cup calendar for Brian Kerr and his charges is September 7 when the French come to Lansdowne Road.

Victory in Torshavn last night, however hard-earned, was what was required of the Irish mission to the North Atlantic.

But the significant bonus was that none of the six Irish players who went into the game on yellow cards - Duff, Kilbane, Cunningham, Morrison, O’ Shea and Andy Reid - added to their collection, which means that, injuries permitting, Brian Kerr will have a full deck to deal from when Les Bleus come to Dublin.

By then things will have become a little clearer in Group Four. But not, frankly, a whole lot. You couldn’t see much beyond the pitch in Torshavn last night. And it will be sometime yet before anyone in a group that remains as tight as the Torsvollur playing area gets a clear sight of Germany.