Republic of Ireland 1 Netherlands 1

Back when the Netherlands were shaping up for the European Championships and generally looked a decent shout for the title, Ireland went to Amsterdam and rather burst their pre-tournament bubble. It just might be that they felt they owed us one.

Here, of course, the spoils were shared but it was one of occasions when allowing the long held lead to slip away made it feel just a little like a defeat. Aside from killing the atmosphere at the end, though, and perhaps dampening the high spirits Martin O’Neill had said he wanted to maintain, it mattered little. More important is the fact that the manager will this morning have moved a significant step closer to being settled on his final 23-strong travelling party.

If there was any doubt about Shane Duffy’s place on the plane before last night then he probably laid it to rest with a performance that underlined, first and foremost, the asset he can for the team at set pieces. Defensively, he was decent for the most part too, although it is hard to entirely tip-toe around the fact that he allowed Dutch substitute Luuk De Jong an entirely free header for the equalising goal four minutes from time.

It was an unfortunate setback for the home side who had certainly created the better of the chances over the 90 minutes but the Dutch would be entitled to feel that their performance merited some reward.

From O’Neill’s point of view, it was a night when the men on the margins were supposed to muscle their way to centre stage and Harry Arter’s energetic performance in midfield proved enough to earn him a man of the match award at the end of a game in which nobody stood head and shoulders above the pack.

To some extent it was still the established stars who shone brightest with Robbie Brady’s set pieces absolutely pivotal to the attacking side of Ireland’s game and O’Neill will have been pleased to see Shane Long head to France with another good game and goal to maintain confidence levels.

In competitive terms, it was all a world away from 2001 when a packed house willed Ireland on here to the most unlikely of victories. Of course, this occasion lacked the intensity of that one but the level of apparent indifference around the stands was still, at times, surprising. At any minute late in the first half, it seemed, we would be witnessing a Mexican wave. One finally broke out in the second at a stage when a home victory seemed to be on the cards.

On the pitch, meanwhile, there a slightly strange sense of the rather personalised stakes with Arter getting an early warning for a challenge on Kevin Strotman and Stephen Quinn getting implausibly worked up over a free for a harmless foul on Riecheldy Bazoer. The Bournemouth midfielder would later be booked for a slightly wild challenge on Memphis Depay but, more productively, his eagerness extended to making himself available to receive the ball at every opportunity and trying hard to use it well.

Elsewhere, things were generally a little more laid back but Jeffrey Bruma seemed a little overzealous in his dealings with Long. A kick by the former Chelsea defender to the Irishman’s calf early on caused particular consternation and forced the striker off for several minutes in order to receive treatment. It wasn’t the last time they would tangle.

For the most part, though, the opening was tame although the second half was better than we have come to expect of these sorts of occasions. The Dutch had the better of things in terms of possession and Ireland’s lack of width when without the ball allowed the visitors plenty of space to push into down the flanks.

When the locals had the ball, Brady and Seamus Coleman pushed deep into opposition territory and the opening goal had its origins in Ireland’s emphasis on getting it to them in space. David McGoldrick dropped deep to pick up a pass then played a wonderful long, angled ball to the Everton right back whose blocked cross gave Brady a chance to test the Dutch with a corner.

What followed might be taken as a stark illustration of why Danny Blind’s side are not heading to France themselves. John O’Shea was first allowed to get completely free and head the ball goalwards and after Jasper Cillessen had parried on the line there was only confusion as the ball came off Vincent Janssen and Quincy Promes sought to clear the danger. Before he could, Long had rather coolly extended a leg and poked the ball home, putting a swift end to O’Shea’s claim for handball in the process.

It would not be the last time by any stretch of the imagination that the visitors would look a little chaotic as they sought to defend set pieces, but then several of Brady’s would have left much better defences that this one in a spot of bother.

One of the most encouraging aspects from O’Neill’s perspective was Duffy’s aerial presence with the big Blackburn defender utterly dominating Bruma as the high balls came in. He might well have scored eight minutes into the second half and had another half chance 10 minutes from time after which Arter’s replacement, Eunan O’Kane, ended an attacking move with a shot that Cillessen saved comfortably, Overall, there were signs of Ireland delivering a little more on the passing game that the manager has talked about although the Dutch possessed enough quality, especially out wide, to ensure it was not all plain sailing.

In 2004, incidentally, they reached the Euro2004 semis at which stage the hosts sent them home. Ireland would, as they say, settle for that if it was offered.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Randolph (West Ham); Coleman (Everton), O'Shea (Sunderland), Duffy (Blackburn Rovers), Brady (Norwich City); Arter (Bournemouth), Whelan (Stoke City), Quinn (Reading); McGoldrick (Ipswich Town), Walters (Stoke City), Long (Southampton).

Subs: McClean (West Brom) for Long, Gibson (Everton) for Whelan and Hendrick (Derby) for Quinn (all 67 mins), Hoolahan (Norwich) for McGoldrick (76 mins), O'Kane (Bournemouth) for Arter (82 mins),

NETHERLANDS: Cillesssn; Veltman, Bruma, Van Dijk; Bazoer, Strootman, Willems; Wijnaldum; Promes, Janssen, Depay.

Subs: Berghuis for Depay (61 mins), Van Ginkel for Strootman (70 mins) Das Bost for Janssen (75 mins), De Jong for Wijnaldum (82 mins)

Referee: A Dias (Portugal).