Long way to go for Ireland

The backdrop to last night’s events in Dublin had been a negative one, despite the Stockholm result, focused as it was on past defeats to Austria who have found encounters with Ireland, more often than not, to their liking.

Jack Charlton’s Harry Ramsden Challenge and the 3-1 defeat at Lansdowne Road in 1995 was dusted off for a re-airing this past few days while the 6-0 defeat in Linz 42 years ago had also been unearthed for a younger generation.

Few bothered to resurrect the meeting in Dublin in 1963 for omens of a more upbeat variety. A 3-2 win at Dalymount Park in the old European Nations Cup, it still stands as the last time the Austrians have been bettered by the Republic.

Just like last night, Ireland had approached that encounter on the back of an uplifting draw, the boost on that occasion coming in the form of a goalless stalemate at Prater Park in Vienna, but the similarities didn’t end there.

That, too, had been an Irish team infused with newish faces even if it was an old-timer, Noel Cantwell, who claimed two of the goals on one of those frequent days when the Manchester United full-back was used up front by his country.

In 36 appearances for Ireland, Cantwell found the net on 14 occasions which converts into a goal every two and half games and, in terms of efficiency, places him far beyond the likes of Frank Stapleton, Tony Cascarino and Niall Quinn.

It is a statistic which puts this country’s lack of truly top-class finishers into its proper perspective, but then a quick glance at that side from 1963 is to appreciate the true level of the team as a whole.

Cantwell captained Manchester United to FA Cup success that year and was playing in an Ireland team that boasted Charlie Hurley and Johnny Giles, two of the finest exponents of the game to have emerged from this jurisdiction.

Trapattoni has been nothing if not consistent in his insistence that Ireland simply do not possess players of anything like that calibre anymore and that he must adapt his tactics and structures accordingly.

The perception of the Italian is of a man shackled by rigidity but Trapattoni’s only consistency up front lately has been in choosing two strikers. Who constitutes that pair is something of a lottery even if he has yet to use a defender so far forward.

When Conor Sammon made his debut last month, he became the 14th striker utilised by the current coach in 65 fixtures, but eight of them have now seen some action somewhere on the pitch over the course of just the last three games.

All in all, no double act has started up front for Ireland two games in a row since Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle started the Hungary friendly last May and then the opening Euro 2012 tie against Croatia.

Some 11 fixtures have come and gone since.

It is a turnover that, even allowing for injuries and game-specific requirements, smacks of indecision and it can hardly do much to instil confidence into a breed of men who trade on that strange elixir like few others in world sport.

Trapattoni’s treatment of Long has been the most obvious example and it seemed not so long ago that he might join the likes of Caleb Folan, Noel Hunt, Cillian Sheridan and Daryl Murphy as marksmen infrequently utilised and then ultimately dispensed with.

The West Brom player’s performance last night exposed Trapattoni’s indifference for the folly it always was but the hope now must be that the man from Tipperary gets to gain from an extended run in the side.

It was Sammon’s selection and Wes Hoolahan’s omission which garnered most of the attention prior to last night’s frustrating draw but Long showed again with his clever movement and that audacious backheel why he deserves his manager’s trust.

Robbie Keane has been largely immune to the whims of the manager’s selections, when fit, up to now but the side is now entering a period where that reliance on a fantastic but fading servant can be eased.

After all, the trip to Wembley in May to face England will kickstart a four-month period where Ireland play three friendlies and a home World Cup qualifier against the Faroe Islands.

The impression is that events have shaped this younger, more dynamic Irish team more than Trapattoni himself. Whether fair or not, the Italian must now finish that job, regardless of last night’s late disappointment, in a more structured fashion.

Asking Long to front up for the foreseeable future would go some way to doing just that.