Well, we're through to the next stage and, for the moment, we should be thankful. It may not have been too pretty or nearly as convincing as we would have liked but the bottom line is that we are through and so, temporarily at least, the pressure is off.
When the draw was announced there never seemed to be a question about our ability to come through in one way or another. Romania started as favourites with us fancying our chances of upsetting them while the rest would be left a very long way behind.
And that's the way it should have been. We've seen over the past couple of games just how poor the sides have been that ended up rivalling us for the play-off spot. Yet they have troubled us and mainly as a result of our repeated inability to kill them off, or any other sides, when they travel to Dublin.
In the past our physical presence and aggression would have been too much for them at Lansdowne Road. Big-name teams came there hopeful of maybe hanging on for a draw; the smaller ones - they were happy to get away without having been given a going over.
Now, everyone has worked out how to play against us at home and in response to that we have not been able to come up with a new approach to breaking down visiting teams. Initially there seemed to be a new plan - Mick McCarthy's wing backs - but he seemed to lose faith in that as the results failed to improve and the pressure for points increased. In the end he reverted, more or less, to the tried and tested approach which our players knew but which everybody else was pretty familiar with too.
What continued to dog us, meanwhile, was a tendency to play players outside of their normal roles until last night when, for a variety of reasons he switched the majority back to where they looked most comfortable.
That paid off as players slotted into accepted roles and the team immediately took on a far more solid look. When things are going well, switching players around can work but when they start to go wrong, or when an individual is having an off-day then it creates problems because a player loses confidence about his positioning and his role in the side.
When that starts to happen, as it has in several of our recent games, a good group of players can start to be troubled by a lesser one and that is the trap that we have allowed ourselves to fall into recently.
On the brighter side, McCarthy has blooded a lot of players during this qualification tournament. At times some of the choices he made seemed risky but now that we have come through it will stand to him to have so many of the younger players with a bit of competitive experience under their belts.
Overall, though, we are clearly worse off than a couple of years ago with the decline in our more mature players not nearly matched by the progress of the youngsters. We haven't turned the corner yet either and so, for the foreseeable future, McCarthy is going to have his work cut out patching things together. A measure of how things have declined is how badly we have struggled to get this far in what should probably have been the easiest World cup qualifying competition ever.
What has been pleasing in the recent games, on the other hand, has been the way in which players have stuck to their tasks. No matter how well or badly you play in these situations, there were only six points to be won in these games and that is what they have taken from them. They may have dug a hole for themselves in the home games with Iceland and Lithuania but now they can take some pride in having dragged themselves back out of it again.
Throughout the tournament, McCarthy has been able to count on players whose application and attitude have been admirable but last night those attributes were married with the sort of balanced team selection that allowed them to play to something approaching their full potential.
The midfield players, Jason McAteer apart, were outstanding. Roy Keane, Alan McLoughlin and Steve Staunton all played prominent roles in this win while up front Tony Cascarino and Dave Connolly combined very well.
Cascarino's return greatly enhanced his young striking partner's potency. The 20-year-old had many more opportunities to run at and get behind defenders with the veteran taking up the central role. It may have been Cascarino who got the goals but the youngster turned in a mature display and caused the local defence an awful lot of problems.
In the full back positions, Gary Kelly and Denis Irwin also have some cause for satisfaction with the way things went last night. Kelly looked a different player to the one who wandered aimlessly around the right side of the midfield/attack on Saturday while for me Irwin still brings enough to this Ireland side to warrant being one of the first names down on the team sheet.
Just how strong that team is as a whole, though, is quite another thing. We are about to enter a phase of playing stronger teams with Romania to come here next month and then (barring a miracle) a play-off against one of the other second-placed teams.
Personally I can't see us having the strength or quality to make it through but it's far from out of the question that we do. If we do, wonderful. Qualification for France next summer will provide a massive boost to McCarthy, his players and the players who have yet to break through.
Even if it were not to go especially well for us at the tournament, taking part would provide valuable experience for the youngsters who are going to have to assume a great deal more of the responsibility when the next European Championships campaign gets under way. There may even be an opportunity for some of the stars from the Under-20 side that did so well in Malaysia to make the leap into the senior panel.
First, however, we must get past that play-off. McCarthy will doubtless remember Jack Charlton's decision to tinker with the selection for the game in Anfield against the Dutch and how that turned out for him. He'll also reflect on how last night he reverted to a system the players know and played them in roles that they fully understand. It seems that the conclusions to be drawn are obvious.
(In an interview with Emmet Malone)
