Learning the hard lessons

FOR Irish football, it was a story of gain and pain in Stuttgart on Saturday night. More accurately, the gain was largely in what was regained - spirit, pride, passion, sheer hard work - all those basic but crucial attributes which, even allowing for the absence of key players, had been alarmingly invisible in the dismal performance against Holland.

Ah, but the pain. And it wasn’t just the fluky manner of the game’s decisive goal, though that was what was uppermost in Steve Staunton’s mind as he wrestled with the disappointment of a European Championship defeat in his first competitive game in charge.

“It was a cruel blow for us,” he said afterwards, “very cruel, considering the shot was going wide. It was a soft free-kick too but that’s football, you get a kick in the nuts when you are down there.”

Succumbing by one goal in Germany, you would expect the visiting manager to accentuate the positive, but Steve Staunton seemed to have donned glasses of the deepest shade of green when it came to analysing the game.

“Germany are third in the world and we frightened the life out of them in the first half,” he said. “They didn’t know whether they were coming or going. I have got to give my lads utmost credit for how they went about their jobs. We had the Germans penned into their own half — they didn’t know what hit them and I can’t ask for any more than that. The Germans probably won’t have a harder game here.”

There’s no argument that Ireland’s performance was encouragingly positive in the first 45 but Staunton’s expressed belief that the visitors were unlucky not to get anything out of the game is hardly an accurate reflection of the overall balance of play.

Even the most cursory of highlights packages would confirm that, but for Shay Given, the woodwork and some resolute and at times last-ditch defending by Andy O’Brien and, in particular, Richard Dunne, Germany would not have had to rely on the rub of the green to see them home.

Also, Jens Lehmann had only one save of consequence to make in the whole of the 90 minutes. And once Germany did go ahead, Ireland were never able to raise their game to seriously threaten an equaliser, even if Richard Dunne almost had a chance to nick a precious point right at the end.

For long periods, the Irish were impressive when the opposition had the ball, working to close down opponents so successfully that we saw little enough of Germany’s much vaunted shooting from distance. But by the time the visitors were required to chase the game, fatigue was taking its toll. And then, the key factor, there was simply not enough guile and creativity to compensate.

The heart of the midfield continues to be a major problem for Staunton, as evidenced by his decision on Saturday night to opt for a new central partnership, pairing John O’Shea with Kevin Kilbane. But while Kilbane contributed a couple of those forward surges that we hadn’t seen since the 0-0 draw in Paris, sadly O’Shea put in yet another anonymous shift in the engine room.

This is a serious issue for Staunton, who has come into the job of Irish management at a point when a long and impressive chain of command has been broken.

And there is no immediately obvious or convincing solution. Graham Kavanagh has always been a stopgap option and Andy Reid, who could play there, badly needs to make up lost ground. Otherwise Staunton can only hope that someone suddenly blooms from the young, untested ranks of Liam Miller, Stephen Ireland and Jonathan Douglas. But if that’s to happen, it can only be done in the course of a long and tough qualifying campaign. Which may be good for the next World Cup, but not necessarily for this European Championship.

With a midfield which is unable to get on the ball sufficiently to hold possession and dictate the play, the options for getting supply to Ireland’s most creative attacking players are inevitably curtailed. On Saturday, Damien Duff started very brightly but, after being chopped down cynically more than once, he diminished in influence during the second half. Still, it was a surprise to see our single most creative outlet being called ashore. At the time, I took it be the consequence of one hefty challenge too many, but afterwards Staunton said no, he simply wanted to “freshen things up.”

In due course, substitutes Aiden McGeady, Alan O’ Brien and Stephen Elliott all came into the game — their collective youth a measure of how much Ireland are having to rely on potential rather than proven ability.

But that’s what this campaign is going to have to be about and, in that context, it was heartening to see that, every time he is asked to step up to another level, Kevin Doyle seems to take the challenge in his stride. On a night when Robbie Keane was obliged to spend more time directing traffic than giving the German defence problems in his own right, the Reading man’s impressive performance confirmed that he is the first big breakthrough player of the new era.

Staunton may have to watch Ireland’s next game from the stands if Uefa punish him with a ban for his sending-off in Stuttgart.

We left Stuttgart with reasons to both think the best and fear the worst. This Irish team could yet grow up or blow up, but one qualifying match can only be a trailer for the big picture. The same goes for Slovakia’s 6-1 thrashing of Cyprus and the Czech Republic’s narrow win over Wales.

It’s still too early to say whether this one will turn out to be a heartwarming tale of redemption or a chiller from the house of horror. But one thing seems sure: there won’t be any gain without some more pain.

GERMANY: Lehmann, Lahm, Arne Friedrich, Manuel Friedrich, Jansen, Schneider (Borowski 83), Frings, Ballack, Schweinsteiger, Podolski (Neuville 76), Klose.

REP OF IRELAND: Given, Carr, Andrew O’Brien, Dunne, Kilbane (Alan O’Brien 83), Finnan, Reid, O’Shea, Duff (McGeady 77), Doyle (Elliott 79), Keane.

Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain).