It might not have been pretty or convincing but Republic of Ireland boss Mick McCarthy is prepared to look at the more positive aspects of last night's 3-1 victory over Andorra at Lansdowne Road. "We've got 14 points, we are still unbeaten and we are top of the group," said the Irish manager. "I know it might sound like a boring mantra but that is the situation and at the start of the programme not many people thought we would be here at this stage."
"I refuse to be negative about it. I could come here and say we were crap and should have won by a lot more. But it wouldn't have mattered if we had scored 10 against Andorra, we still wouldn't have earned any plaudits," he added. "We'll learn something from this. We had all the game, just as we expected, but when the ball drops in the six-yard box it is difficult to find room even to swing a leg at it when there are 12 or 14 players in there.You just have to keep working and break them down and in the end we did it, but I don't know if you can print what I thought when Andorra scored first."
McCarthy's sentiments were echoed by midfielder and goal-scorer Mark Kinsella, who found last night's encounter an exasperating affair. "It was very frustrating, especially when you go near them and they go down. But we knew if we got at them and got one goal, then we could get two or three more. We needed that goal against us to kick start us though and after that I thought we dominated the game," he said.
"Their goal was a well-taken header, at the end of the day, and a good ball in. But once they went 1-0 up we all of a sudden kick-started our game and got two goals in five minutes. From then on in, it was just a matter of getting the third. I think we needed the third to settle down. In the second half, they didn’t seem to have gotten over the shock of the first but we needed that third goal and we kept plugging away. Their keeper made some great saves so it could have been 5-1 or 6-1," added the Charlton captain.
Kinsella is now looking forward to putting last night's match behind him and getting on with the task in hand. "Now we can focus on the game against Portugal. It was just a matter of getting this game out of the way, get the three points and do a professional job and now we can look forward next month to a massive game here," he pointed out.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
