Keane helps Ireland to unconvincing win

Robbie Keane scored his 35th international goal to give Ireland an unconvincing 1-0 World Cup qualifier win over Cyprus here Wednesday that owed too much to the towering defending of centre back Richard Dunne.

The Cypriots will be disappointed not to have come away with a point and only Ireland's bright start denied them.

The goal came after just five minutes when Damien Duff came a long way off the left wing to collect a square ball on the right edge of the box and drive at the heart of the defence.

The Cypriot's shifted across to cover the winger – restored to the team in place of Stephen Hunt – leaving Keane unmarked at the back post. Duff chipped over and the Liverpool forward scored one of the easiest goals of his career.

Ireland had a let-off in the 15th minute after a defensive error led to a point-blank save by Shay Given but Dimitris Christohpi blasted the rebound over from four yards.

Cyprus's luck was out from the start as Efstathios Aloneftis was injured in the warm up.

Both teams had shots on target without much consequence as the Cypriots recovered from the early shock but midway through the first half an excellent turn run and shot by Aiden McGeady forced Antonis Georgallidis to parry well.

Keane had a similar effort which also forced a decent save.

Ireland almost went two up after 36 minutes when Lambros Lambrou, who was introduced for Aloneftis, scooped a low cross by McGeady over his goalkeeper.

Marios Ilia did excellently to head out from under his crossbar with the goal exposed.

Minutes later, Kevin Doyle was equally brilliant turning on the right side of the box before shooting just wide.

Despite Ireland's dominance in chances, Giovanni Trapattoni's surprise decision to use Darron Gibson in midfield for the injured Steven Reid looked a mistake as the Irish failed to create chances or control possession from that quarter.

Paul McShane also looked uncomfortable in an unfamiliar right-back role and the Cyrpiots targeted him to some effect.

Two substitutions in the first five minutes of the second half by Angelo Anastasisadis helped Cyprus dominate the second half with two up front giving them a more direct option. Despite their dominance they failed to create a clear-cut chance.

Trapattoni held off on substitutions despite Ireland looking more like the away team as the game progressed.

However, the class of McGeady, Duff and Keane; and the tireless work of Doyle gave them an outlet.

Yet it took until the 75th minute for them to create a chance but McGeady's outside-of-the-foot chip was fractionally over.

Both teams had good chances in the last ten minutes. Kevin Doyle's curling shot forced a good save from Georgallidis but almost immediately the Irish defence were forced into a series of last-gasp blocks.

Ireland had a chance to seal it in injury time but Duff and then Whelan squandered the opportunity with the Cypriots stretched at the back.

Trapattoni's first competitive home game in charge of Ireland may have ended with a win but the result was too close for comfort and the Italian's decision to keep Andy Reid and Liam Miller on the bench for the entire game while his central midfield struggled is sure to blow up into a full-scale controversy.

Compared to the 5-2 drubbing the Irish took at the hands of Cyprus in the Euro 2008 qualifying group, this was an improvement but neither team looked capable of challenging top seeds Italy and Bulgaria in World Cup qualifying Group Eight.