It was a brave performance by Mick McCarthy's team on Saturday night, but ultimately we were not quite good enough. The simple fact is that we really can have little complaint about the outcome.

To finish up with such a spirited performance, to go so close and be in with a chance of snatching it from under the noses of the Belgians until the very last minute, was marvellous, but in the end this was a performance that highlighted our weaknesses as well as our strengths.

True, we showed fantastic passion, we closed the game down and deprived the home side of any space in which to play. We also created a great many chances ourselves. In midfield, Ireland looked to be full of life. At the final whistle, however, the important difference between the two sides was that the Belgians had two chances in the game and took both of them. We had far more, but had found the back of the net just once.

That pretty much sums up our situation just now as we leave the World Cup behind us and begin to turn our attention to the next European Championships. We lack strikers of real quality, while at the back we have not got the ability to cope with players of Oliveira and Nilis's quality.

It is not reasonable to expect that one of two solid target men - Tony Cascarino or Niall Quinn - partnered with David Connolly, who has played most of his football in the lower divisions of the English league and has yet to establish himself as a first-team regular at Feyenoord, could unlock a decent international defence.

Cascarino turned in a tremendous performance in this game, but a better striker, one of the quality of either Nilis or Oliveira, might have ended the night with a couple of goals.

If we had somebody capable of that, a player who possessed that extra bit of pace which scares a defence, then we would immediately become a far more threatening team.

In defence, Kenny Cunningham and Ian Harte continue to work hard, but Harte, in particular, looks less than convincing. It is definitely a problem for us because when an opposing striker comes up against a player who is slightly out of his depth in a position he is unfamiliar with, he always knows that he is likely to get a chance if he is just patient enough.

In this game our defenders just lost their concentration on two occasions, but we were ruthlessly punished each time, with Cunningham's lack of experience leaving him badly placed to cope with Oliveira's run and the lack of a commanding central defender capable of marshalling the men around him contributing heavily to the second.

Exactly what will change for the next qualifying process is not entirely clear. There is obviously talk about the likes of Tony Cascarino, Andy Townsend and Ray Houghton going now, but I hope they will give the decision a bit of thought before making their mind up.

If they do really want to get out, then there is nothing that anybody can really do about that, but ending your involvement with your national team is a big decision. It would be a pity if the decision was made amidst the emotion of our elimination.

All three have been tremendous servants to the team over the years and if they do eventually come to the decision that is time to get out, then fair enough, but I'm sure Mick McCarthy would like to have the option of calling upon them in the future. Had they not been there in Brussels, it is difficult to imagine that we would have done so well. Their willingness to fade out of the scene over the coming year or so, rather than cut their ties in one go, would be a major boost to the manager.

As for Mick himself, the hard work, it would seem, is really only beginning. The prospect of playing a series of major friendlies against World Cup qualifiers will give McCarthy the chance to look at his options.

He will do well, however, to prevent a further decline in the team's international standing until some of the more-talented youngsters start to come of age in a couple of years' time.

Some of them, the likes of Damien Duff, Robbie Keane and Neale Fenn, may start to figure in the Irish set-up early in the new year, but it would be unwise of us to hope for too much too soon. It generally takes a couple of years before you start to get the best out of a player at international level. The European qualifiers may seem a long way off for the fans, who have become used to the good times, but the important thing is we are moving forward. Saturday night may have been a disappointment, but it was a proud display and not such a bad way to draw the curtain on one phase of our team's development. Now we must look to the future which, albeit in the longer term, has a refreshingly bright look about it.

(In an interview with Emmet Malone)