There was welcome evidence of the new style of play Don Givens has been trying to get his players to adopt, but the result continued to have a familiar ring to it in Nijmegen last night, where Ireland were a little unfortunate in their first outing of the new European Championship campaign.
Two goals, both of them in the second half and each with a hint of bad luck about it, left the Irish on the wrong end of a fairly clearcut margin. But for a second-half performance in which they held their own against a typically neat and quick Dutch side, Givens' team deserved something more.
For the bulk of the opening period, Ireland had really done little to test the home side's defence, while their own was more or less consistently troubled by the pace of left-sided Ajax winger Kevin Bobson. After his departure due to injury at the break, however, the sides started to look evenly matched and the game developed into a highly entertaining contest.
Not long into the second period though, a couple of errors in quick succession were to prove costly for the visitors, with Jason Gavin, the second offender, dispossessing local boy Patrick Ax with a challenge from behind but, in the process, knocking the ball past his stranded goalkeeper and into the path of Cedric van der Gun, who tapped home from a couple of yards.
From then until two minutes from time the Irish played impressively, knocking the ball around well and creating at least as many chances as their opponents. When Ax had a crack at goal in the dying minutes though, the shot took a bad deflection off Clive Clarke and once more the unfortunate Delaney could do no more than stand and stare as the ball flew past him and into the net.
"At 1-0 down I thought that we'd get back into it, although to be fair they looked like they could score on the break too," said Givens afterwards. "But overall I can't really be too unhappy, because it was a much better performance against one of the better sides in the world."
NETHERLANDS: Rouwelaar (Emmen); Schuurman (Go Ahead Eagles), Wolters (AZ), Hofland (PSV), Bosschaart (Utrecht); van der Schaaf (Vitesse), Janssen (Vitesse); van der Meyde (Ajax), van Beelen (Cambuur Leeuwarden), Bobson (Ajax); Kuyt (Utrecht). Subs: Ax (NEC) for Bobson and van der Gun (Ajax) for van der Meyde (both half-time), Hose (Ajax) for van Beelen (82 mins). REPUBLIC OF
IRELAND: Delaney (Port Vale); Healy (Celtic), Gavin (Middlesbrough), O'Shea (Manchester United), Clarke (Stoke City); A Quinn (Sheffield Wednesday), B Quinn (Coventry City) capt, O'Connor (Stoke City), McGrath (Aston Villa); Reddy (Sunderland), Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur). Subs: Barrett (Arsenal) for Doherty (80 mins), Partridge (Liverpool) for A Quinn (83 mins).
