The surface of the Home Farm FC pitch in Whitehall was quite slick, following the persistent drizzle which commenced two hours before kick-off and continued throughout the match. A crowd of approaching 500 was interspersed with representatives of several overseas football clubs, casting their eye over the talented collection of individuals on display.

Having observed this group of players over the past two seasons, it was noticeable that the majority of them had, as one would expect, developed physically and one was also taken by the technical improvement shown by many of the players. The group has also been augmented by the acquisition of some new players along the journey.

The visiting Italian side opened the match in bright fashion and dominated possession for the first fifteen minutes. While Italy passed the ball with aplomb in the middle of the pitch, they made little headway against a resolute Irish defence superbly marshalled by skipper David Joyce and his central defensive partner Paul Honohan. Ireland did have one very lucky escape during this period when, on thirteen minutes, a fierce shot from Fernando rebounded off the crossbar with goalkeeper Kieron Thorp well beaten.

Ireland gradually settled to their task and began to make inroads into the Italian defence. The pace and trickery of strike partners Craig Duggan and Sean Scannell supported by Kurtis Byrne and Shane O’Connor on the flanks, had the Azzurri defence in some distress and resulted in the concession of a series of free kicks. From one such transgression, in the twenty fourth minute, Ireland took the lead. Cork youngster O’Connor, who joined Liverpool in the autumn, flighted a superb left footed kick to the back post where full back Gareth Matthews of Norwich City stole in behind the defence and buried his header in the back of the net.

Sean McCaffrey’s team now became very much the dominant force as they sought to build on their lead. The pacy Duggan chased an apparent lost cause to positive effect and caused further mayhem in the Italian defence while Scannell was also a constant menace. On thirty four minutes, Ireland was awarded another free kick and from a similar position to the opening goal, O’Connor swerved a cracking shot which the Italian goalkeeper just managed to tip over the crossbar. Minutes later, some excellent link up play between debutant James McCarthy and Scannell resulted in Ireland going very close to their second goal.

Manager McCaffrey, exploring the depth of his squad, introduced three new faces for the second half with Byrne, Scannell and full back Mark Nolan giving way to Ian Daly, Eric Foley and Conor Kavanagh. Ireland continued to command proceedings with the energetic Conor McCormack prominent in the middle of the pitch. Further chances were created and both O’Connor and Daly shot just wide.

In a rare assault on the Irish defence, eleven minutes into the half, Italy forced a corner. From the resultant excellent delivery, the visitors had a close range strike well saved by Thorp. The Crawley born netminder, whose father hails from Ballina, had very little to do throughout the match but his dominant voice bellowing out orders to his defensive cohorts was exemplary.

As the game entered the final quarter, Ireland continued to dominate with some excellent passing and control enabling them to retain possession and force the opposition into some trenchant tackling. One particularly bad tackle on goalscorer Matthews received a deserved yellow card.

Sean McCaffrey took the opportunity to give a run out to three further squad members with Niall McArdle of Sunderland replacing the injured Matthews while Duggan and O’Connor were replaced by two further debutants, Ian Byrne of Bohemian FC and Middlesbrough midfielder James Cronesberry whose grandparents both hail from Kerry.

This was a very satisfactory exercise in preparation for the forthcoming Elite Qualifying Group of the European Championships. Ireland will travel to the West Phalia region of Germany where they will face Greece, Scotland and the host country from 21 March 2007 to 26 March 2007. Ireland and Italy will face each other again on Thursday evening 25 January 2007 at Tolka Park with a 7.00pm kick-off.

Team
Kieron Thorp (Crystal Palace)
Gareth Matthews (Norwich City), Paul Honohan (Wilton United), David Joyce (Birmingham City), Mark Nolan (Glasgow Celtic)

Kurtis Byrne (Norwich City), Conor McCormack (Manchester United), James McCarthy (Hamilton Acad), Shane O’Connor (Liverpool)

Sean Scannell (Crystal Palace), Craig Duggan (Kilreen Celtic)