New boys get lift from old hand

And so, after all the talk of revolution, dawn of a new era and exit from the age of Italian austerity, Ireland went with two up front last night.

And that was just in the dugout.

Indeed, such was intense focus of the camera crews and the whole stadium on the Irish technical area before kick-off, you could have expected the ceremonials to consist of Martin O’Neill conducting Roy Keane along the red carpet to shake hands with the two teams.

Everything about last night screamed a sense of occasion, the presence of an eager crowd of just over 35,000 for what would otherwise have been the most low-key of friendly games, confirming that this was no ordinary football match; this was – so everyone fervently hoped – a bit of history in the making.

In truth, it could have been a heavy enough burden to shoulder for a new manager who has spent only a few days with his team, but Martin O’Neill and his players let nobody down, winning comfortably and convincingly against admittedly modest opponents who never even threatened to rain on the parade.

It is important, of course, to resist the temptation to read too much into one game, especially when you recall that the Jack Charlton reign began with a depressing loss to Wales while the Steve Staunton era opened with a rip-roaring 3-0 victory against Sweden.

But, even allowing for the bounce which teams traditionally experience under new management – and not forgetting either the lowly stature the opposition — there was no disguising the spring in the step of the Irish players as they set about Latvia with fresh vigour and no shortage of style.

O’Neill was not about trying to reinvent the wheel last night, setting out his team in a 4-4-1-1 formation, with Giovanni Trapattoni’s preferred duo of James McCarthy and Glenn Whelan undisturbed in the middle of the park while, ahead of them – in a tweak on the night’s two up front theme — there was the encouraging sight of Wes Hoolahan playing off Robbie Keane. The last time the Norwich schemer and Ireland’s skipper had started the same game was when the hosts played the Faroe Islands here last June – and on that night Hoolahan ran the show and Keane added a hat-trick to his haul.

In keeping with the new manager’s habits, there was no deploying strikers as wide men, O’Neill instead opting for horses for courses with the two Macs he knows so well – McGeady and McClean – ostensibly patrolling the flanks, though the Spartak Moscow man was played more like an old-fashioned inside right, allowing Seamus Coleman space in which to overlap.

And in keeping with the manager’s promise too, the home side pressed high up the pitch, putting Latvia under pressure right from the kick-off, an early James McCarthy volley that was inadvertently blocked by John O’Shea still a sign of something else the manager wants – his midfielders getting shots away on goal.

Hoolahan’s neat touches and precise passing, and McClean’s admirable tenacity in getting to the line, gave Ireland a strong attacking posture in the game’s opening phase though, for all the attractive fluency of their build-up play, they were unable to capitalise even when keeper Andris Vanins, under pressure from Robbie Keane, handled outside his box, conceding a free-kick which almost led to Ireland’s opening goal.

The optimistic feeling that it was only a matter of time before the breakthrough would come was somewhat tempered by the poor quality of Ireland’s final ball, not least when McGeady turned smartly to leave his marker for dead and rolled a perfect pass wide into the path of Coleman, only for the Everton man to wastefully over-hit his cross.

And when the first goal of the O’Neill era did come in the 22nd minute, it actually arrived in a familiar way, from a set-piece, and via a very familiar scorer. McClean had already done brilliantly to help force the corner and he was there again in the right place in the box to flick on McGeady’s delivery for Robbie Keane – who else? – to claim his 62nd for his country and draw level with the Brazilian Ronaldo in the world charts. Down in the dugout – or, at least, on the rugby-appropriate seats which passed for a football dugout last night – Keane’s namesake rose to his feet and punched the air. The crowd didn’t sing ‘There are only two Keanos’ but they probably should have.

With most of the game being played in the Latvian half, there was precious little to bother Keiren Westwood – picked in goal ahead of David Forde – and his back four of Coleman, John O’ Shea, Marc Wilson and the returning Stephen Ward.

Instead, with the opposition pegged back, Ward had the luxury of getting forward to link up with McClean, while McCarthy revelled in the space afforded him in midfield to showcase his full range of passing. Whelan too was playing like a veteran reborn.

Refreshingly too, despite going a goal ahead, Ireland did not revert to cautious type, instead continuing to play progressive football at a high tempo, the only significant downside being their failure to add to their narrow advantage before the break.

Latvia’s massed defence continued to confound Ireland for a long period in the second half, though profligacy in front of goal was a problem, both O’Neill and Roy Keane visibly bemoaning a miss by McClean just short of the hour mark, when the Wigan man couldn’t keep his shot down after being invitingly set up by the effervescent Hoolahan.

But in the 67th minute the deserved second finally came. It stemmed from Whelan being willing to do the dirty work, covering the ground to get tight on Juris Liazans who promptly gave the ball away to McGeady. A few strides later and he’d gleefully drilled a shot to the Latvian met.

That turned out to be the Spartak man’s last contribution of a good night for him, as a hat-trick of O’Neill substitutions brought Andy Reid, Shane Long and Jon Walters into the play.

Then, on 79 minutes, it was three, Walters releasing Coleman on the overlap, the latter’s driven ball across the face of goal turned in by Long. Anthony Stokes – who would come close to making it four with a rasping shot — Kevin Doyle and Paul Green were all on the pitch for the final ten minutes, by which time the happy crowd was amusing itself with, alternately, a Poznan and a Mexican Wave.

Just for the record, Roy Keane and O’Neill did not join in, but they doubtless allowed themselves an additional smile as their debut 3-0 win was quickly followed by the news from Athens that Romania’s 3-1 loss to Greece in their World Cup play off means Ireland are now secure as second seeds for the Euro 2016 qualifying draw in February.

The honeymoon continues.

Subs for Ireland: A Reid for McGeady (72), J Walters for Keane (72) S Long for Hoolahan (72), P Green for Whelan (79), A Stokes for J McClean (79), K Doyle for McCarthy (79).

Subs for Latvia: A Fertovs for RRugins (26), E for Verpakovskis (45), D Turkovs for V Sabala (61), A Sinelnikovs for A Lazdins (71).