High praise for the new boys

Last night's post-match discussions on the size of the crowd at Lansdowne Road settled once and for all the issue of whether the Republic of Ireland manager and his players are "half-full" or "half-empty" kind of guys. And it wasn't just the attendance - their comments about everything else about this defeat by Greece were enlightening.

The stadium, they said, was half-full. The game was nearly won. And the goal that actually won it for the Greeks was a bit lucky. Ah well, it was one of those nights.

On the question of Vassilios Lakis's goal there was, in fact, a fair degree of bewilderment on the part of the two Irishmen who should have known most about it.

Irish captain Steve Staunton admitted that after his man had disappeared behind him momentarily he had only managed to turn around in time to see the shot. "I think it surprised everybody," said the 31 year-old "It started off as if it was going wide and then the swerve on it seemed to carry it back in. It was unfortunate but (I don't think it should take away too much from what was a good performance from a team that had only been thrown together for a day and half before the game."

Goalkeeper Shay Given, delighted just be back in an Ireland jersey after what has been a frustrating year with injuries, was equally at a loss to explain how such an apparently tame effort had managed to reach the net.

"It looked to me as if it was going towards the near post so I started to move to my left. Then it seemed to swerve and move to the right. It was very disappointing but after being out for a year with three different injuries it was still good to be back and to earn another cap."

Asked about the same incident Mick McCarthy conceded that Staunton could have done with another defender providing some cover after the original attempt to make the challenge but, like his players, he was determined to look on the bright side.

"I was asked whether I was disappointed and I asked what aspect of the game they were talking about. Am I disappointed about the result? Yes. But about our performance? Absolutely not.

"In terms of effort and chances created I can be delighted. If I had the stats in front of me now I think they would show that we had the better chances. This was a team that only had one or two training sessions after coming home, so overall I'd have to say that they played very well."

For the new players it was a night to remember regardless of the score or the quality of the game. Well, for all but Barry Quinn, perhaps, for the Coventry City midfielder spent the tailend of what should have been his greatest night in football in hospital having tests on a suspected fracture in his ankle.

Steve Finnan was happier even if he had had a mishap of his own. While Quinn had a poor challenge to reflect upon the Limerickman had had a golden opportunity to mark his first senior appearance with a goal.

"He was kicking at me a bit," said Finnan as he mulled over what might have been. "I should have done something, though, either gone down or scored . . . yeah, maybe I should have gone down for the penalty, dived," he smiled "it might have worked out better in the end but I wasn't to know."

Finnan's fellow debutante, Gary Doherty was learning some early lessons about the international game too. Having had a free kick awarded against him almost every time the ball came near him, it was tempting to suspect that the newly signed Spurs man would have a complaint or two about his treatment at the hands of referee Hugh Dallas. And he did: "It was very different to what I'm used to," he observed "particularly coming from the second division. And I was surprised by the way the referee kept on penalising me, I thought I'd get away with it seen as he was Scottish."