Somebody asked Mick McCarthy after this eventful game in the National Stadium in Reykjavik, if he had given any thought to the option of summoning Paul McGrath for the second stage of his World Cup safari in Vilnius on Wednesday.

The alacrity with which McCarthy delivered his answer in the negative, suggested that the thought had never entered his head. And yet, the rationale of the question was, it seemed, eminently sound.

We had just witnessed one of the most brittle defensive displays in years by an Ireland team, a spectacle so uncommon as to cause older minds to surf the years in search of a parallel.

Iceland, a team with a reputation for expediency at the back and a deeply held conviction that adventure belongs exclusively, to the pages of coaching manuals, had just destroyed the myth of McCarthy's achievement in building an impregnable defence in only his second year in charge.

True, conditions were fairly horrendous with persistent rain sweeping the ground and shrouding even the basics in treachery. And still, it couldn't excuse fully, the high rate of error in a back four formation which was and looked, a generation removed from that which McCarthy, himself, presided over in other times.

Even more remarkably, perhaps, the Irish escaped from this assignment with only the fifth win of McCarthy's reign and with their World Cup challenge still struggling for life, pending Wednesday's appointment with Lithuania.

The explanation, simply, was that Iceland's pretence at defence, was even more preposterous, lacking any kind of discipline and fragile to the point where manager Gudjon Thordarson frequently held his head in his hands, as he watched the drama unfold in front of him.

"I think we saw some bad defending out there," said McCarthy, "Iceland, in particular, made some bad mistakes. I was concerned by the way we conceded two goals and this is an aspect of our game which must be improved in Lithuania."

The manager was not prepared to admit, however, that this win, perhaps, the most prized of his time in office, was down purely to luck. "We played some good football, too, particularly when the score was 2-2. We've had so many bad knocks along the way, that we were due a break or two. But the only real piece of good luck we had today, was that Andy Townsend's leg wasn't broken late in the game."

That was a reference to an appalling tackle by Eyjolfur Sverrisson which gashed Townsend so badly on his lower shin and instep, that he required eight stitches immediately after the game. Several Irish players then converged on Sverrisson and with some of them already on yellow cards, one feared for their involvement in Wednesday's game as the Croatian referee, Gudjon Thordarson reached into his back pocket.

Fortunately, it was merely to caution the Icelander but by that stage, Townsend, Jeff Kenna and Mark Kennedy had already picked up second yellow cards and an automatic one match suspension. Townsend, booked for leading the Irish protests after another bad tackle on Roy Keane, at a time when the more vociferous protests were being made by Stephen Staunton, could count himself unfortunate.

Kenna's booking was a product of raw panic when he was required to bar the way to goal, after the central defenders had been caught out of position but Kennedy's actions in first dissenting with a linesman and later kicking the ball away to get himself red carded in the closing minutes, were inexcusable.

There have been signs this year that the level of discipline in the squad is dropping, a point indirectly acknowledged by McCarthy when he said that he had lectured his players at some length before the game, on the folly of becoming entangled in no-win situations with authority. The urgency of that message was, apparently lost on Kennedy who, at times, appeared to be inviting the displeasure of the match officials.

The ironic thing was that Kennedy had produced the best performance of his international career in the 41 minutes leading up to his dismissal in the 86th minute. Later, he would claim that the manager's decision in preferring Kevin Kilbane to him in the starting line-up, was responsible for his exceptionally high rate of motivation.

Kilbane, a surprising choice in a team which featured Alan McLoughlin in midfield in place of Jason McAteer, never quite got to the pitch of the game in the first half but the effect of his questionable selection, was to goad the young Liverpool player into a full-blooded response.

Running with conviction at a defence which never really recovered from the shock of presenting the opposition with a lead goal in the 13th minute, Kennedy was the essential difference between the teams as the Irish rode out a bad spell at the start of the second half, to win with some ease.

The other big factor in victory was Roy Keane's substantial contribution in midfield, decorated with two goals of contrasting quality but delivered at critical stages of the second half. Like Townsend alongside him, Keane has been stung by accusations that his recent track record with Ireland fell some way short of his reputation as possibly, the best club player in Britain.

The graph of his international career in now climbing again, however, and for the fourth successive occasion, he was going where it hurt and emerging as a powerful influence when the plot demanded qualities of strength and leadership.

Townsend, too, is now a lot more involved for longer periods and the end product was to take much of the pressure off those behind him. Judged on what we saw at different periods, that was just as well for neither Kenny Cunningham nor Ian Harte looked wholly comfortable at centre back and Kenna, again preferred to Denis Irwin, had his least successful game of the year.

Even Staunton struggled at times but in his case it could be argued that his performance was affected by a leg injury sustained early in the game. Fortunately, Iceland's defenders appeared to have left their heroics behind them at Lansdowne Road, for from a situation in which they dominated the Irish attack in Dublin, they now erred at an astonishing rate.

Siggi Jonsson, so quick and perceptive on that occasion, now looked less than imposing and with Hermann Hreidarsson and Sverrisson both uncomfortable on the wet surface, disaster was never more than the bounce of a ball away.

In that situation, David Connolly, preferred to Tony Cascarino for the job of leading the visiting attack, prospered again after opening the scoring in the 13th minute. Krisjan Finnbogason, coming to collect Staunton's through ball, was undone when Sverrisson deflected it with his boot and Connolly was left with the straight-forward task of putting the ball in an empty net.

At least three more chances presented themselves to the Irish as crisis after crisis erupted in the home penalty area but with Kenna's carding and the certainty that he would now miss the big confrontation with Lithuania, the balance then began to tilt in the home team's favour.

Now the landmines were suddenly transported to the other end of the pitch and Thordur Gudjonsson and Runar Kristinasson both missed opportunities before Brynjar Bjorn Gunnarsson delivered a superb equaliser on the stroke of half time.

Keane, lunging at Larus Sigurdsson's mis-hit cross, only succeeded in teeing the ball up for Gunnarsson and the shot, struck with power and meticulous precision from 22 yards, left Shay Given stranded.

If that was unnerving for McCarthy, worse was to follow within two minutes of the resumption when Iceland scored their second. Jonsson almost certainly handled the ball at the start of the build-up and Heigo Sigurdsson was a good yard offside at the end of it but the flag stayed down and the whistle silent as the centre forward scored from close in.

Now, was the winter of Ireland's agony but with the game seemingly drifting out of reach and with it, hopes of a place in the World Cup finals, Keane struck twice in quick succession to soothe jagged nerves.

Somehow finding space at the edge of the six yards area, he beat the goalkeeper with a looping header from Kennedy's corner kick in the 54th minute and then, after another crass error of judgment by Finnbogason, almost ran the ball in from five yards.

In between, the goalkeeper did well to deny Kennedy in a one-on-one situation but after Sigurdsson had been sent off for one impetuous tackle too many, Kennedy had his revenge when the goalkeeper somehow managed to allow his shot slip from his grasp and the ball, helped on its way by Hreidarsson, finished in the net.

Iceland: K Finnbogason, L Sigurdsson, H Hreidarsson, S Jonsson, B Gunnarsson, R Kristinsson, G Bergsson, E Danielson, H Sigurdsson, T Gudjonsson, E Sverrisson. Subs: T Gudmundsson for Danielsson (70 mins), R Dadasson for H Sigurdsson (84 mins).

Republic Of Ireland: S Given (Newcastle): J Kenna (Blackburn), K Cunningham (Wimbledon), I Harte (Leeds), S Staunton (Aston Villa): G Kelly (Leeds ), A McLoughlin (Portsmouth), R Keane (Man Utd), A Townsend (Middlesbrough), K Kilbane (West Brom): D Connolly (Feyenoord). Subs: M Kennedy (Liverpool) for Kilbane (45 mins), J McAteer (Liverpool) for Kenna (64 mins), A Cascarino (AS Nancy) for Townsend (87 mins).

Referee: A Kulusic (Croatia).