Ireland warm up in some style

It didn’t. The Stoke City striker was guilty of taking his eye off the ball, just as Darren Randolph, Ireland’s goalkeeper, had been earlier in the first half, when he failed to collect Egidio Arevalo Rios’s cross, allowing Jose Giménez to reach the ball first, and loop a header in.

In terms of the result, it didn’t matter. Ireland would regroup, Uruguay would lose interest, and the team with the greater desire and energy seized their chance, scoring twice in the second half to record a fine victory.

Yet O’Neill, consistently, has never shown any interest in decorating his CV with showpiece wins in friendly internationals.

The key objective last night was to get his men through the 90 minutes unscathed and to see which of them had played their way into contention for this Sunday’s World Cup qualifier against Austria, as well as considering which players had blotted their copybook.

In this respect, Randolph’s mistake was exacerbated by the fact that his replacement, Keiren Westwood, made a more sensible decision, and more impressive save, after the break, when he dived low to his left to push away Giménez’s header.

All this points to a consistent theme, namely that at set pieces, Ireland failed to defend with their usual efficiency last night, the absence of John O’Shea and Richard Keogh from the team having a negative effect in this department. What’s more, at the other end of the park, Robbie Brady’s deliveries from set pieces were inconsistent, even if two fine chances stemmed from this source.

And yet despite these isolated deficiencies, Ireland, overall, produced a fine performance. Harry Arter enhanced his cause for an upgrade from the bench; Wes Hoolahan’s cameo suggested he too should be included for the group D qualifier, at Jeff Hendrick’s expense, while Cyrus Christie excelled at right back.

Equally as impressive on that flank was Brady, whose natural preference to cut in on to his left foot meant that Ireland’s play in the first half lacked the width they needed to stretch a team as disciplined as the Uruguayans. That said, Brady continually offered an outlet and a purpose to the Irish play.

So, for that matter, did Arter, the busy little midfielder, whose aggressive tackling is complemented by the tidiness of his passing, and whose positional excellence, along with the often-maligned Glenn Whelan, helped Ireland maintain solidity in the central areas, where the Uruguayans had heavily populated their side.

It’s rare to see an Irish side win tactical battles against opponents as celebrated as the South Americans. Yet they did here, the simplicity of O’Neill’s 4-2-3-1 system working effectively against Uruguay’s 4-4-1-1 format.

What helped was that Edinson Cavani, their best player, had to withdraw with an injury after 13 minutes. What also helped was that Ireland scored first, Walters delivering a curling, dipping shot, which Esteban Conde, the Uruguayan goalkeeper, couldn’t reach.

Nor could he get near Christie’s speculative 51st minute cross-cum-shot, hindered massively by Sebastian Coates’ clumsy attempt to clear it. Ahead for a second time in the game, Ireland’s confidence noticeably increased, as O’Neill made clever substitutions midway through the half, introducing James McClean, the team’s talisman for Jeff Hendrick, and Daryl Murphy for Walters.

The pair combined brilliantly in the 77th minute, Murphy slicing a diagonal pass through the right side of Uruguay’s defence, offering McClean the chance to collect and control the delivery, prior to shooting low and hard beyond Conde.

And with that the game was won, the memory of Walters’s appalling miss receded and thoughts turned back to Austria this Sunday.

Win that game and Ireland will move seven points clear of their opponents and the road to Russia will appear that bit shorter. Those are the matches people tend to remember. These ones aren’t.