By Ade O'Connor
August 21 2002

Robbie Keane, Colin Healy and Graham Barrett destroyed any hopes of an upset in the Finnish capital of Helsinki. The Irish aquad ran out 3-0 winners, in a match that saw oppurtunites for some new faces to put thoughts into the head of Mick McCarthy, ahead of the upcoming qualifying match v Russia. Ireland managed to come away with the victory, without much effort or hitting peak form. The Finns struggled to cope with Duffs pace and ability to run at people for the duration of time he was in play.

After just 12 minutes of play, Duff created the first goal of the night for Robbie Keane. The goal came about in a fortunate way, as the ball appeared to hit off the shin of the Ireland striker and find it's way into the back of the net from close range.

The lead was doubled to 2-0 after 75 minutes, as Colin Healy grabbed his first international goal for the senior team. Healy's shot from the edge of the area beat the keeper and from then on, Ireland looked well out of Finland’s sights.

The game was sewn up by debutant Graham Barrett of Arsenal, who was only called into the squad after the under 21 game last night. The Ireland squad had experienced a number of injuries, with the absence of David Connolly, Clinton Morrison and Richard Sadlier, Robbie Keane and Damian Duff were the only two strikers at McCarthy's disposal. The Arsenal striker took his chance after coming on as a substitute, and fired his shot into the roof of the net, to complete the rout.

The Finns were not without their chances however; Jari Litmanen saw his attempt well saved by the Charlton goalkeeper, Dean Kiely. But unfortunately for the home side, their chances were few and far between and from then on rarely threatened the Irish goal.

So at full time it was 3-0 and mission accomplished as far as the Ireland squad was concerned. Mick McCarthy had warned before the game that after an impressive World Cup campaign, the Irish would be a significant scalp for Finland. The Ireland boss will now hope that his injury worries quickly clear and that he will have a near enough full strength squad available for the opening Euro 2004 qualifier versus Russia in Moscow.