A WIN AND a clean sheet - and plenty to chew over ahead of much tougher tests next year.
Thank goodness for Callum Robinson’s alertness and for the generosity of Malta skipper Matthew Guillaumier.
Because anything less than an Irish win yesterday and the boos that rang out at half-time from many within the 700-odd Irish crowd would have echoed long into the winter.
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They travelled in the hope of seeing something better than the Norway display three nights earlier.
But it quickly turned into another night of frustration, another disjointed and sluggish display against a team bearing little resemblance to Euro 2024 qualification big guns France and Holland - or with little of the star-studded quality that Ireland will face next year.
The now infamous low block, Ireland’s achilles heel, was deployed by Malta, as it was by Norway, and there was no way through it until Guillaumier’s 54th minute blunder.
There were five changes to the starting-11; some expected, others less so.
Caoimhin Kelleher and Seamus Coleman were flagged up by Kenny on Saturday, while Chiedozie Ogbene for Michael Obafemi was predicted long before it was known that the Swansea striker had picked up a hamstring injury.
A midfield switch was always on the cards, but last night Jamie McGrath was the beneficiary, coming in ahead of Jeff Hendrick for Jayson Molumby.
And James McClean, winning his 96th cap, got the nod at left-wing back for Callum O’Dowda.
Disappointingly, there was no sign of Will Smallbone, whose performances for the Under-21s and Stoke City suggested he had the guile to puncture the Malta defence.
Of the changes, McGrath had the look of a man determined to make up for lost time.
He was on his toes and linked up well early on with Nathan Collins, who found a new home on the left of Ireland’s back-three after starting last Thursday on the right, and McClean.
Wigan ace McClean produced a storming start, packed with crunching tackles and tireless running.
His unique brand of chaos clearly had the Maltese worried, as they resorted to chopping him down a yard outside the area after one piece of alert play in the eighth minute.
McClean had played the ball up the left-flank to McGrath, who couldn’t keep his footing under pressure from two defenders.
The Derryman reacted quickest to the loose ball and sprinted towards the area, but had his legs taken from under him.
Despite the urgency of McClean’s play, this was shaping up to be another night of frustration against yet another side happy to sit back and soak up the pressure.
On the handful of first-half occasions that Ireland broke into the Maltese area, there were enough bodies to smother the danger and not enough invention to get through the white wall.
McGrath and Callum Robinson were both foiled in their efforts to find a green jersey with a pair of low crosses from the left.
The Irish were also let down by poor passing and crossed wires, such as when Alan Browne failed to complete a five-yard pass to Matt Doherty just after the half-hour mark.
Browne was expecting Doherty to make a run down the right, but the Tottenham man was caught on his heels, so the ball zipped harmlessly out of play.
An overhit pass by Robinson to McClean also gifted possession back to the hosts.
So, it was a case of the same old problems in possession - and the same could be said for Kenny’s side when faced with a Maltese counter-attack.
A more incisive opponent might have made more of the handful of breakaways that had the Boys in Green scrambling to get bodies back behind the ball.
Jodi Jones should have scored in the 12th minute when he was Malta’s spare man in a quick attack.
Although Nathan Collins managed to close him down, the Oxford United forward got his shot off from the edge of the area, but couldn’t direct it past Kelleher.
Four minutes later and another attack saw the hosts move the ball from left to right, where Teddy Teuma cut in onto his left foot and drilled the ball over.
The frustration of the 700-strong Irish support - compounded by Alan Browne’s failure before the break to stab home Matt Doherty’s low centre - was evident as the half-time whistle was greeted with boos.
Moments earlier, Robinson couldn’t hide his own frustration when his front-post delivery from the left wasn’t anticipated by Ogbene.
Robinson, who flung his arms in the air in exasperation at yet another example of Ireland’s struggle for attacking cohesion, was a much happier man shortly after half-time.
Ireland’s opener was a gift, a dreadful back-pass by skipper Guillaumier, but credit to the Cardiff City man for the anticipation and calm head to seize the opportunity.
He cut out the pass and with goalkeeper Henry Bonello stranded at the edge of his area, Robinson quickly stepped to his left and finished into an empty net from 20 yards.
Quick thinking and decisive action, something there was far too little of last night.
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