Kerr's young troops come of age

THINGS are falling into place. Saturday night in Amsterdam was about much more than the result, more than temporary compensation for missing out on the Portuguese party.

This result brought Brian Kerr's gestation period as Irish coach to an end in the best way possible.

Over the course of these four friendlies, he has discovered the team he wants for the World Cup qualifying campaign; something facilitated by the return of Roy Keane. This was a significant victory, not just for exposing Dutch pretensions ahead of Euro 2004, but also because this was an Irish team that had Brian Kerr's touch.