Miller a shining star in dull affair

While all the talk in the days before the Republic of Ireland’s friendly against Poland was about Roy Keane, another less heralded son of Cork was one of the few bright points in tonight's 0-0 draw.

Sadly for Liam Miller, his lasting memory is likely to be a sore neck from watching the ball battered back and forth over his head.

Like Keane before him, Miller will move to Manchester United, although whether the older man will be there to greet him this summer remains a matter for debate.

What is certain is that the Celtic midfielder will carry considerable expectations on his shoulders when he heads south – Martin O’Neill said he would have “built the team around him”.

When news of his switch from Parkhead came through, the 22-year-old was erroneously described as the “new Roy Keane”, an epithet which owed more to a shared home town than a style of play.

In fact, he is closer to Paul Scholes, at his best when he is providing support for the strikers rather than box-to-box industry.

But it was Clinton Morrison rather than Henrik Larsson or Ruud van Nistelrooy ahead of him in Bydgoszcz and Keane’s presence would have been more effective as the Irish struggled for possession.

Miller was not helped as the visiting defenders were drawn into lumping the ball beyond midfield by the Poles’ pressing tactics and the uneven pitch.

Miller never looks hurried in possession and he gave a few sketches of his ability with some clever turns and intelligent passing but the longer the game wore on, the more he found himself pulled back in search of the ball.

As a consequence, he was often found helping out in defence where his ability to create space for himself was useful but hardly the role Bryan Kerr and Alex Ferguson have imagined for him.

On one of the few occasions he did get inside the Polish box, just shy of the hour mark, he snatched a shot over the bar.

He did little wrong, however, and as he trudged off at the end he could take comfort from the fact that – for tonight at least – he, and not Keane, will be the subject of conversation in the bars and watering holes of Cork.