Shay Given - save well when called upon, which is always the mark of a good pro. Little worried that he seemed to catch a lot of the shots on the second bounce. Clean sheet will do him good
Kevin Kilbane - was good going forward on the overlap, but still defensively suspect. Targetted quite a bit by the opposition, and not given enough cover by McGeady
Richard Dunne - Bizarre defensive header aside, another towering performance
Sean St Ledger - Solid beside Dunne
John O Shea - Excellent, one of his best games for Ireland. Benefiting from a run in the starting XI at United
Aiden McGeady - Frustrated again, was identified early on as a threat and was double marked, and received some hefty challenges. Still needs to work on his final ball, and the defensive side of his game
Glen Whelan - Faded in the second half, but not a bad game. Could have opened the scoring late in the first half
Paul Green - Made some early mistakes and never really recovered. Suicidal pass in the second half nearly let them in for an equaliser
Liam Lawrence - Linked up well with O'Shea, worked hard and created havoc with crosses. Set pieces were a little below par though
Kevin Doyle - MOTM, never stopped running, gave their defence all kinds of problems, gave us an out ball at every opportunity, run the second half deserved a goal
Robbie Keane - Clearly short of match sharpness, and tried to make up for not winning a penalty by trying to win a penalty for the rest of the game. The early miss, and shot off the post would have haunted lesser players
Subs:
Keith Fahey - Took the goal well, was actually a lot harder than he made it look. Some neat interplay with Keogh and Doyle near the end to keep possession
Andy Keogh - Replaced Doyle as the target man, didn't do a lot, but what he did, he did it well
Green has played better than this, and will again, but will probably lose his place to Keith Andrews when he returns. I actually think Green is a better player, but Andrews makes less mistakes. Make of that what you will.
Despite some deserved criticism, I'd still start McGeady against Andorra (assuming Duff is unavailable) and give Cunningham his first competitive start.
Fahey's goal will give him confidence at this level, and I'd like to see him start in midfield alongside Whelan against Andorra, who are not going to be making many forward runs.
3 points is 3 points, end of story. Assuming we win on tuesday, we'll have 6 points, and be 2 points better off than at the same point in the last qualifiers.
