A McATEER goal, a tongue-lashing from a Cork man, and a cheap goal given away.
The more things change in Irish football, the more they stay the same.
Kasey McAteer was not born when his namesake Jason scored against Holland on September 1, 2001, his goal pushing Ireland a little further along the path to their third, and most recent, appearance at a World Cup finals.
He arrived into the world 82 days later and, so, may have been spared the endless yearning for the olden days because, well, they were better than the last couple of decades.
But he was no less trigger-happy as he scored the opening goal in a victory which threatened to end the longest current unbeaten run in international football.
Instead, Ismaila Sarr’s 82d minute equaliser ensured it stretched to 20 games.
It undoubtedly took the shine off things but, having been dominated in the first half, Senegal found their form in the second.
McAteer’s 21st minute opener was no more than he deserved because, on his first international start, he was Ireland’s most dangerous player.
It was his probing run which had, indirectly, led to a chance for Will Smallbone. Earlier, he had delivered a cross which Jack Taylor narrowly failed to meet.
Still, it did not spare him a tongue-lashing later on in the half from Adam Idah who assumed the role of Roy Keane.
The Celtic striker was less than happy with the winger’s inability to get his cross past the Senegal defence when he was in a good position.
McAteer argued that there were four opponents in between whilst Idah queried his counting.
It was not the only time that Ireland players were involved in a heated on-pitch discussion.
In fact, Matt Doherty and Dara O’Shea may have done well to see McAteer’s goal as their post-mortem into what happened in the first phase from Smallbone’s corner continued.
The stationary O’Shea and Doherty – who ran from deep – both competed for the same ball and, inevitably, neither made a connection.
When the ball was recycled, McAteer saw his first effort turned onto the bar by keeper Yehvann Diouf but he was not about to let them off a second time.
Turning sharply in the box, he thumped the ball home.
It was a perfect pick-me-up at the end of a season in which most of his football came after the relegation of Leicester City – the club he has been with since he was eight – had been confirmed.
The Northampton native – with a grandmother from Offaly and grandfather from Belfast – understandably savoured the moment.
And the sight of the ball rippling in the net ensured that the recriminations between half of Ireland’s back four immediately became less animated.
But maybe it is no bad thing to see Ireland’s players holding each other to account.
Remember, it is only nine months since Glenn Whelan – who had previously been part of the coaching staff during John O’Shea’s interim reign – had questioned whether losing games hurt as much as it should.
They had, it must be said, plenty of practice to perfect their reaction to defeat.
Whilst Senegal arrived here having lost just once in 30 games, Ireland had been beaten 16 times in the same sample.
This was the first time the African team had faced opposition from outside their own continent since the last 16 of the World Cup in December 2022, when they faced England.
They were beaten 3-0 that day and their team selection from this game was clearly built around resting some of their big guns ahead of their visit to Wembley on Tuesday.
Ireland – having lost 5-0 in London as recently in November – are not in a position where they can really quibble with that approach.
And, as they chased increased confidence and further momentum ahead of the start of the World Cup qualifying campaign in September, facing a line-up which was not quite as strong as a FIFA world ranking of 19 was perhaps no bad thing.
The fingertips of Caoimhín Kelleher were pressed into more action earlier in the week when he signed for Brentford than they were in the first half.
He was busier after the break and had made two good saves before, eventually, he was beaten after a sequence of errors at the back, culminating in the ball falling into the path of the Crystal Palace striker after the keeper’s initial save with his leg.
That came just two minutes after McAteer had been withdrawn.
The crowd rose to acclaim him when he exited the pitch. For a moment, it looked like Idah went over to congratulate him.
It turned out he was looking for a bottle of water. But he was rewarded with the player-of-the-match award.
He would, presumably, have preferred to have finished the night with a match-winning goal.
LUXEMBOURG CLASH
But, if one of the objectives of this game and Tuesday’s in Luxembourg is to unearth players who could have a role in the World Cup campaign, then it served its purpose.
Heimir Hallgrímsson has been quick to credit predecessor Stephen Kenny for his work in blooding youngsters to ensure that he inherited a squad with more experience than one might expect from its age profile.
Kenny’s final act in terms of recruitment was to get McAteer on board, although the paperwork was not completed until August last year.
Up until now, he had clocked up 43 minutes in a green shirt, his lack of regular game-time for Leicester making it difficult to make the case that he should get more.
Here he got 80 and he made good use of them.
