Kerr's kids have come of age

I BUMPED into Kevin Moran before the game at Lansdowne Road on Wednesday, as the former Irish international was preparing to do his match analysis for Sky Sports.

In the build-up to the tie, the phrase "potential banana skin" had been heard more than once, but an old soldier like Moran wasn't having any of it. Of course, Ireland would win, he said, the only question was by how many goals.

His confidence was understandable - the opposition were the Faroe Islands, after all - but his absolute certainty was based on what he saw as the potential significance of the performance five days earlier in Paris. That game had reminded him of Ireland's 0-1 victory against Scotland in Hampden Park in 1987, and not just because of the presence of a massive Irish support away from home, something Jack Charlton also recalled this week. More than that, it had been a pivotal moment, Moran felt, in the development of the team of the time.