Ireland top Group Two after victory

The Republic of Ireland have beaten Andorra 3-0 in Barcelona tonight to go top of Group Two. Although Ireland completely dominated this encounter, their finishing continously let them down until late in the game. Goals from Ian Harte, Kevin Kilbane and Matt Holland secured the points for Mick McCarthy's men and although on paper they shouldn't have found it so difficult to break down the part-timers of Andorra, in reality, the home side, lacking in any great skill and useful ideas, defended in numbers and benefited from Ireland's failure to find the killer touch.

Ireland began well and created plenty of scoring chances in the opening half. Robbie Keane, still looking for his first international goal since scoring in the opening qualifier against Holland last September, was the most guilty of glaring misses as he went close on several occasions. Also failing to put the pressure on keeper Alfonso Sanchez were Roy Keane, David Connolly and Gary Breen. The Irish players found it easy to break through Andorra's defence but just couldn't finish their fine play with a goalscoring touch. McCarthy decided that the power and height of Gary Doherty might be the catalyst for a scoring spree and brought on the Spurs defender in place of Connolly. But it didn't quite have the desired effect.

However, finally a breakthrough arrived in the form of a penalty. Roy Keane was brought down by the Andorran keeper in the area, who was booked for his sins, and Ian Harte stepped up to fire home the spot-kick in the 33rd minute. Despite going a goal down, Andorra refused to de-camp from their own half of the field and Ireland continued to find themselves frustated at the end of their many moves.

The second half provided more of the same until the 75th minute when Roy Keane, the best Irish player on the field by far, set up his namesake Robbie. The Leeds striker's header could only be parried away by Sanchez to the feet of Kevin Kilbane and he made no mistake in blasting it into the far corner of the net. Four minutes later, Ireland made it 3-0 and the scoreline was looking somewhat more like what was expected ahead of this game. Holland turned in the box and his cross-come-shot found its way past Sanchez and in by the far post.

Afterwards, Mick McCarthy reflected on what was a frustrating but eventually rewarding game. "I'm happy we got the six points. What we wanted and what we need was to win these two away games which we did but it was frustrating tonight. We had plenty of chances but their keeper was in the right place or we simply missed them. But I'm pleased with the points. What else can I say?" he explained.

McCarthy also explained his decision behind substituting David Connolly so early into the game. "We needed a presence in there. I felt sorry for David.

His first touch wasn't working and I decided to make a change. We didn't want to throw the ball in the air too much but we needed an aerial threat and Gary gave us that. I still see him as a squad player, though. He's a centre half and his movement doesn't really suggest he's a striker," added McCarthy.

In tonight's other Group Two matches, Cyprus drew 2-2 with Estonia while Portugal came from 2-0 down at home to draw 2-2 with Holland. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink put the Dutch ahead in the 17th minute and Patrick Kluivert added a second in the 49th minute. However, Portugal hit back with just five minutes remaining. Pedro Miguel Pauleta got their first and then who other but Luis Filipe Figo made it 2-2 with a successful spot-kick. These results leave Ireland top of Group Two on goal difference with 11 points.

Filed by Amanda Fennelly