THE game was only five minutes old, and Martin Heeb had just saved at point blank range from Gary Breen, when the Republic of Ireland's opening World Cup, assignment in Vaduz was set on an irreversible course.
Fifteen months ago Heeb, stopping shots with almost every part of his anatomy, had bled Jack Charlton's European championship challenge dry with a sequence of improbable saves.
Now his luck ran out and when the rebound travelled directly to Andy Townsend at the edge of the penalty area, the Ireland captain returned it, exultantly, to the back of the net.
In that moment, the scales of justice balanced out and Charlton successor, Mick McCarthy could relax, perhaps even to the point of enjoying the Alpine setting.
By the time a mundane game had run its course, the Irish had put four more past the bemused Heeb and professionalism had at last, prevailed against the passion of amateurs.
It is easy to confuse romance with reality, when it arrives in a five goal package; yet, when the critical analyses are made McCarthy is more likely to view this as a competent performance, than the conclusive evidence of the breaking of a new dawn.
Judged by any criterion, Liechtenstein are a modest team and deserted on this occasion by luck were frequently little better than a rabble, as the scoreline expanded at regular intervals in the opening quarter.
To that extent, it may be unwise to attach too much significance to the result and still, it would be blatantly unfair to overlook some good individual performances in an Irish team geared for attack.
That was particularly true of Ray Houghton, the Crystal Palace midfielder, whose international career had been gradually wound down in the closing phase of the Charlton era. Now, he was back to something approaching the form which made him such an important asset in other times, pushing on at every opportunity in support of the front two, Niall Quinn and Keith O'Neill.
Townsend, as ever, was solid rather than spectacular but there was much to admire in the enterprising running of Alan McLoughlin on a day when there was a lot of movement in the team.
McCarthy's bold decision in preferring Jason McAteer to Jeff Kenna was aborted when a sudden attack of gastric flu occasioned the withdrawal of the Liverpool player just hours before the kick off. Kenna does not offer the same, exciting options as McAteer going forward, but still made a contribution to the overall performance.
These are eventful times for Ian Harte, a player whose ambition was pitched at a place in the struggling Leeds United team until McCarthy, in one of his more astute moves since taking charge, summoned him for his build up programme at the end of the season.
Now the fruits of that experience were abundantly in evidence as Harte, playing with a composure beyond his years, provided much of the thrust for that decisive opening barrage down the left flank.
He picked out Quinn perfect finish from the Sunderland player and then, with the men in green in full flow, he delighted the Irish supporters who made up half of the 4,000 crowd, with a superb strike for the third goal.
That Quinn should score twice was fitting, for nobody had suffered more in the agony of Vaduz last year. In the event, that disappointment was to fuel one of his better performances here as he launched himself at a defence which never quite came to terms with his competitive qualities.
For O'Neill, too, it was a rewarding day, capped with a goal which carried the stamp of an authentic opportunist. This was his fourth score in just seven international appearances, a strike rate which no other newcomer, with the exception of David Kelly, has approached in recent years.
On one occasion, he allowed himself to be drawn unwisely, into a potentially dangerous situation after Martin Stocklasa's crude tackle on McLoughlin had earned the Liechtenstein defender a yellow card but by, the time he departed, when replaced by Alan Moore in the 73rd minute, he had fully justified his selection.
The nature of the game was such that Gary Breen was prone to be seen as often in attack as in defence, but in partnership with Denis Irwin and Stephen Staunton, he looked impressively comfortable on those rare occasions when Harry Zech and Alexander Quaderer managed to break free from Ireland's midfield stranglehold.
The exception was in the 22nd minute when Mario Frick's through ball enabled Franz Schadler to take the centre of the defence apart, but to the consternation of the home supporters, the goal was disallowed for a hairline offside decision.
In the main, however, the traffic was one way after Townsend's goal struck with impressive conviction had demo, realised the opposition as much as it lifted an Irish team, who were in dread of another protracted stalemate.
In fact, McLoughlin, in space, might well have scored before Townsend, but in the ninth minute we knew for sure that lightning wasn't going to strike twice when O'Neill's persistence produced a second goal.
Pressurising defender, Stocklasa his speed won out in the jostle for possession and as Heeb left his line in a despairing attempt to retrieve the situation, he poked home beneath the goalkeeper.
Within another two minutes, the Liechtenstein goalkeeper was bending his back again to retrieve the ball from the net, this time after Quinn, on the burst had volleyed Harte's cross past him.
An earlier infringement by Quinn ruled out a goal for Breen in the 18th minute but just 70 seconds later, the fourth goal arrived. Houghton provided the initial chance for Harte and the Leeds player, in splendid isolation some 25 yards out, made no attempt to conceal his delight after the ensuing shot had traced a path to the roof of the net.
It was only in the second half that Heeb made his anticipated impact, spreading himself to keep out good efforts by McLoughlin and Quinn but he was again stranded when, Harte's measured pass gave Quinn the chance to head home a fifth from virtually beneath the crossbar in the 61st minute.
