Cyprus 1 Rep of Ireland 2:SPAIN'S 5-0 win over Belgium in La Coruna was one of several on Saturday night across Europe to dispel the notion that there are no easy matches in international football anymore. It's been a while, though, since Ireland enjoyed a handy night out and they can scarcely expect that there are any coming down the line any time soon if they continue to make life as difficult for themselves as they did in Nicosia over the weekend.

Cyprus are not such a poor team that there is any great shame in being given a game by them but with the their hopes of making a meaningful impact on this qualification group having already dwindled almost to nothing, a handful of key players being injured and the local population showing large-scale indifference to their fortunes, they should not have represented the greatest of challenges for players anxious at every turn to talk up their newly rediscovered sense of collective purpose.

Not for the first time, however, the Irish made heavy weather of what should have been a relatively straightforward task. Still, a goal five minutes in from Kevin Doyle combined with one six minutes from time by Robbie Keane earned Ireland a much coveted win and, entirely understandably, the general line out of the camp afterwards was that it was the points that had mattered more than the quality of the performance.

The side’s inability to put limited middle-ranking sides like Cyprus away with any conviction, though, continues to raise the suspicion that talk of qualifying for a major championship remains a little fanciful at present because, as they could under Brian Kerr, Ireland can squeeze out wins against lesser sides but not beat ones of any real quality.

And somewhere deep down, confidence would appear to be an issue still because teams that believe in themselves would be bolstered by the taking of an early lead whereas Ireland almost invariably start to come a cropper after going ahead during the opening stages of matches.

Here, they dominated the very early and very late exchanges but proved incapable of rising above what proved to be a scrap for most of the time in-between. The home side’s equaliser, a close-range drive by Marios Ilia on the half hour after some uncertain defending, gave the travelling support an anxious evening but Keane’s late winner ensures that the night will be judged a success, at least in terms of the team’s qualification campaign.

Cyprus, though, clearly stretched the visitors at times with the home side, who played five across the middle and just one up front, holding their own in midfield for long periods and repeatedly hitting their visitors on the break. In the end, they might have got more from the night than honourable defeat had it not been for a couple of important interventions by Shay Given.

Not that the Irish goalkeeper was nearly as busy as he had been when the Republic won by a goal here in 2005. Despite John O’Shea only really starting to play towards the end of the game, and the rest of the defence living a little dangerously at times, Giovanni Trapattoni’s men held their shape and retained their composure through the 90 minutes in a way they had not during their most recent visits to the GSP Stadium.

They were scarcely impressive, though, with Keith Andrews and Kevin Doyle, whose close-range shot gave Ireland the lead after five minutes, amongst those to struggle after bright starts. Stephen Hunt was also poor though Aiden McGeady did no better really after replacing him in the second half.

Duff, to the annoyance of opponents who sometimes felt he went down too easily, won a succession of free kicks at important times and often in good positions but only occasionally threatened to open the opposition up prior to the late goal while Keane was quiet and three of the back four merely competent for the best part of the night.

Given’s most memorable contribution was a fine save from Ioannis Okkas’s close range header just two minutes after his side had taken the lead but even that was eclipsed by a stop at the other end with Sofronis Avgousti getting up quite brilliantly to push a firm strike by Glenn Whelan, who generally did well, around his left-hand angle.

Once again, a single player was the source of most of Ireland’s problems with Efstathios Aloneftis out on the Cypriot left wing playing the role of Tim Cahill this time thanks, at least in part, to the rather sleepy shift put in by O’Shea during the first hour or so. The defender improved dramatically over the closing stages, though, and played a key part in a winning goal that came within a matter of minutes of the Irish abandoning the route one approach they had so frequently fallen back upon. Suddenly, when we had almost given up hope, they found their rhythm and started to retain possession with a little aplomb. The shift in the balance of the game might be attributed in part to the Cypriots tiring but the difference was unmistakable and the Irish players, who one always have hoped would assert themselves in a game like this, finally came to the fore.

Duff’s first attempt to cross the ball was frustrated by the close attention of two defenders so he laid the ball off to O’Shea who cut inside and made his way towards goal. His route forward was blocked but after passes by Whelan and Andrews the ball was worked back out to the Fulham winger who this time picked out Keane to perfection and the striker rose high just beyond the near post to turn the ball home.

The scale of the players’ celebrations at the end gave a clear sense of their relief at having taken this campaign to their last two home games against Italy and Montenegro next month. None will fool themselves, though, that a performance of this calibre would be enough to deprive the world champions of the group’s top spot.

CYPRUS:Avgousti (Aris); Ilia (Apoel), Christou (Omonia), Charalambous (Omonia), Avraam (Apollon); Charalambides (Apoel), Michail (Apoel), Satsias (Apoel), Nikolaou (Panionios), Aloneftis (Omonia); Okkas (Anorthosis). Subs: Alexandrou (Apoel) for Michail (71 mins), Maragkos (Anorthosis) for Satsias (89 mins), Christofi (Omonia) for Okkas (91 mins).

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND:Given (Manchester City); O'Shea (Manchester Utd). Dunne (Aston Villa), St Ledger (Preston North End), Kilbane (Hull City); Duff (Fulham), Whelan (Stoke City), Andrews (Blackburn Rovers), Hunt (Hull City); Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Doyle (Wolverhampton Wanderers). Subs: McGeady (Celtic) for Hunt (67 mins), Folan (Hull City) for Doyle (75 mins).

Referee:T Einwaller (Austria).