Reserves give reasons for cheer

I DON’T think we’re going to end up in a GPO-type situation here. That is to say, it’s unlikely that in years to come hundreds of thousands will lay retrospective claim to having been in the Aviva Stadium on the evening of March 29, 2011 to witness the rising of the latest star in Irish football.

But the hardy few who did make their cheers echo in the vast empty spaces last night — as the new cathedral of Irish football once again failed to attract enough worshippers — can at least say they were on hand to get a glimpse of what the future might be like if James McCarthy does go on to fulfil all that is expected of him.

And they can also say that they witnessed a hugely entertaining game of football in which the fiery passion shown by a makeshift Irish team was ultimately doused by South American flair as Uruguay, the team which finished fourth in the world in South Africa last summer, handed out a sharp lesson in the art of clinical finishing.