DUBLIN -- Ireland picked up the three
points they needed to move out in front of World Cup qualifying
European group two on Wednesday, but they made hard going of
their 3-1 victory over Andorra.
Their opponents, supposedly the minnows of the group, even
took the lead in the first half, when centre half Ilderfons Lima
rose to head a free kick firmly past Shay Given in the Irish
goal in the 33rd minute.
The hosts struck back quickly, with Kevin Kilbane powering a
shot home a minute later and Mark Kinsella putting Ireland in
front with a close range effort in the 36th minute.
Captain Gary Breen finished off the scoring with another
close range shot in the 76th minute to round off a disappointing
game.
Ireland now head the group on 14 points, three ahead of the
Netherlands and Portugal.
Irish manger Mick McCarthy was relieved to have got through
a difficult night with three points.
"I hate those games," he said. "I was never going to win any
friends, the players were never going to win any friends, you
are never going to get any plaudits for winning or for the way
we played."
He added: "They made it very, very hard for us. It's very,
very hard to play against 11 men getting behind the ball,
falling over all the time.
"You have got to be patient, the crowd were frustrated, I'm
just glad to have won it."
McCarthy was less happy about the goal they conceded to fall
behind.
He said: "I'd stressed to my players beforehand...the last
thing I said was if they get a corner or a freekick make sure we
defend it, and we didn't.
"I pointed out at halftime that a corner kick like that cost
us a place in the European Championships last year and I don't
want it to cost us a place in the World Cup.
"It hasn't - we've won."
Midfielder Mark Kinsella said it was a frustrating night for
the Irish. "Every time you touched them they fell, we never got
into a rhythm.
"But we did the job we set out to do. It wasn't up to the
standard we've been playing but we've extended our lead which is
what we set out to do.
"We needed to get this game out of the way and now we can
focus on the big game against Portugal on June 2."
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