Rep of Ireland 3 Andorra 1:GIOVANNI TRAPPATONI may point to the reasons for seeing Ireland's glass as half-full on a night his team eased to the top of the Group B table with a first competitive win by more than a goal in the 14 qualifiers under his charge.

But, privately, he will be concerned the home side looked far from formidable here last night. They made their visitors look merely mediocre rather than the hopeless minnows a glance at the world rankings would suggest.

The Andorrans, to be fair, deserve credit for the way their manager approached the game and the way his players endeavoured to hold their own against individual opponents manifestly of significantly higher quality.

Their hosts, though, made heavy work of it all, and had Kevin Kilbane not broken the ice early on – to maintain his record of scoring in every meeting between the sides – then achieving even this repeat of the scoreline when Ildefons Lima and Co last came to town might have proven tricky.

Lima scored the Andorran goal that day nearly a decade ago and his side has averaged little more than a goal on the road in each campaign since.

So the manner in which Christian Martinez was gifted their Euro 2012 quota on 45 minutes was just one of the reasons for concern on a subdued night in Ballsbridge.

Briefly, it had seemed likely to be rather different, for it took all of 20 seconds for Robbie Keane to expose the calibre of defence the Irish were up against. The Spurs striker slipped neatly between two opponents out to the right of the box after receiving the ball almost from the kick-off and won a free in a dangerous position.

For some reason it didn’t seem to be a lead his team-mates were anxious to follow. Only Aiden McGeady really looked to have a taste for taking on and beating players, sometimes to very good effect, over the course of the night.

In midfield, everything was far too hurried and passes went astray with terrible regularity. The Andorran back four were not tested to nearly the extent they should have been.

It was all a little bewildering. In Yerevan, playing away from home and against a far better side than the one they faced last night, the Irish were harried into playing at a speed that often looked a little beyond them. This time out, they should have been comfortably able to settle into and dictate the pattern and pace of the game, but they still seemed reluctant to take a little time to build from the back, preferring to knock it to one of the strikers at the earliest possible opportunity.

That simply ensured Keane and Kevin Doyle faced into a long night of scrapping for 50-50 balls with their back to goal, and enough of those were misplaced or flew out of play that the Andorrans rarely found themselves under sustained pressure for any prolonged period.

Aside from McGeady’s, there were some decent performances from the Irish. Both full backs, Kilbane and John O’Shea, seemed well on top of things, Lawrence looked energetic if not as effective as he might have been, and both strikers worked hard to make something of the generally meagre chances that came their way.

Central midfield, where Glenn Whelan and Paul Green should have been calling the shots, was a disappointment, though not on the scale that central defence was for the visitors’ goal.

Richard Dunne, under pressure from Marc Pujol, headed Marc Bernaus’ long ball straight to Martinez, who might have had less time to pick his spot from the edge of the area if Sean St Ledger hadn’t spent so long appealing for offside against Pujol.

Dunne may also rue the needless booking he later picked up.

Ireland’s goals were, at least, impressive. Kilbane timed his arrival nicely, then rose high to head Lawrence’s corner home decisively 14 minutes in. Then, with four minutes left in the half, Doyle regained possession well some 30 yards out, turned and almost immediately powered a left-footed shot past the helpless Josep Gomes to just inside the far post.

Keane then got the best of the lot nine minutes after the break when McGeady started a move with a cross-field run that also involved Doyle and Green, before the winger picked up the ball again and sent his skipper scampering through the middle of the defence. He coolly slipped the ball past the oncoming goalkeeper.

That should have paved the way for at least another couple. Yet the Irish struggled to press home what was clearly a decisive advantage.

There were chances all right, and Doyle should have had a penalty when he was wrestled to the ground by Jose Silva almost under the nose of the Cypriot referee, but still Ireland lacked the composure to break down tiring opponents.

Late on, Andy Keogh’s introduction brought a renewed sense of hunger, but the closest he came to grabbing a fourth was four minutes from time when McGeady worked his way into the box and played a short, square ball to his feet, only for the 24-year-old to take too long lining up his shot.

The Andorrans, to be fair, battled valiantly to the final whistle, and a heftier defeat would have been a little harsh on them. Perhaps the Irish players wanted to avoid just such an injustice.

They may need to be an awful lot better against the Russians if this winning start to the campaign is not to be remembered a year from now as a squandered opportunity.

REP OF IRELAND: Given (Manchester City); O'Shea (Manchester United), Dunne (Aston Villa), St Ledger (Preston North End), Kilbane (Hull City); Lawrence (Portsmouth), Green (Derby County), Whelan (Stoke City), McGeady (Spartak Moscow); Doyle (Wolves), Keane (Tottenham Hotspur). Subs: Gibson (Manchester United) for Whelan (61 mins), Kelly (Fulham) for O'Shea (75 mins), Keogh (Cardiff City) for Doyle (83 mins).

ANDORRA: Gomes; Escura, Silva, Lima, Bernaus; Martinez, Vieira, Ayala, Moreno; Pujol, Gomez. Subs: Jimenez for Moreno (59 mins), Andorra for Ayala (71 mins), Sonejee for Pujol (86 mins).

Referee: L Trattou(Cyprus).