Fortress Lansdowne falls

IT WASN’T just the Swiss who came to Lansdowne Road in a defensive frame of mind.

Struggling to find the right note in a media build-up to this match marked by such undiluted pessimism, Mick McCarthy, the FAI and the players all felt the need to fight a grimly determined rearguard action ahead of kick-off.

As they battled their way through the criticism, FAI boss Brendan Menton had spent his time defending his clearly unsettled and besieged manager, the manager spoke up on behalf of much-maligned defender Gary Breen and the players all rallied to their boss's cause.

One of McCarthy's main arguments against the knockers was that the air of despondency was a media concoction not felt by the Irish public.

The usual rousing reception at a packed Lansdowne Road certainly seemed to bear that out. It has, after all, been a long time since an Irish crowd has been asked to boo one of their own By half time, though, they were jeering of their own volition as McCarthy's dogged determination to persist with Breen in central defence at the expense of Manchester United's clearly in-form John O'Shea was put into further perspective.

It was Hakan Yakin who outpaced both the West Ham reserve and the chasing Matt Holland to latch onto a long-range free-kick and lob Shay Given, further raising the anxiety levels of a crowd whose buoyancy was slowly being eroded by a disjointed Irish performance.

The Swiss performance had proved to be as stubborn as McCarthy's selection policy which maintained the natural winger Damien Duff as a front man alongside Robbie Keane with Kevin

Kilbane once again starting wide on the left. Ironically, Ireland's one real chance of a first half goal had come from that flank, but it was Ian Harte who supplied the cross which bounced off the unmarked Keane's head beyond the far touchline rather than being directed there.

Ireland were uninspired rather than under pressure but crucially they seemed to lack the spirit that had spurred them on against the media before the match. If they were playing for their manager's honour it barely showed.

Then came the goal, on the stroke of half time, and it was not just the manager's pride that was on the line.

And yet little changed immediately after the restart. McCarthy made no changes, the Swiss carried on their containment policy and the Irish continued to huff and puff.

It was not until the hour mark, when Kilbane was withdrawn and Clinton Morrison thrown on, that proceedings sprang to life.

Suddenly Keane looked livelier, the referee's assistant's flag his nemesis, and Duff, moving wide, was back in business.

And so were Ireland when Breen put the right back under pressure at the far post and forced him to put past his own keeper. Maybe this was the stroke of luck McCarthy was due after such a harrowing few months.

But then McCarthy decided to take fate into his own hands. Chasing the winner he may have been by putting on tricky Sunderland winger Thomas Butler and Gary Doherty. After all, it had sort of worked in Moscow where the manager had been instantly rewarded with a goal from the Spurs man only for Ireland to concede directly after it.

This time, Ireland cut out the scoring part as the three-man defence was left badly exposed when the Swiss counter-attacked and the visitors' substitute Fabio Celestini beat the lot of them to plant the ball beyond Given.

Then came the chants of "Keano, Keano", not a minority either and certainly not aimed at Robbie.

And as the final whistle blew the chants turned to more boos. After 18 consecutive home matches without defeat and plenty of them memorable ones against teams far better equipped than McCarthy's the former captain's remarkable legacy as Ireland boss was being torn apart by an unremarkable and far from memorable Swiss outfit.

Football's cruel like that, but then again, Ireland are now facing the prospect of watching another major tournament from the sidelines.

That would be three out of the last four. And maybe that is the more accurate McCarthy legacy.