Although a more potent team than Jack Charlton's boys of '90, who (it is easily forgotten) scored only two goals in five games, failing to beat Egypt or anyone else, Mick McCarthy's squad were also dogged in the end by an inability to finish off flagging opposition, recording three 1-1 draws in their four matches. On each of those occasions they recovered from a half-time deficit, showing not only spirit and teamwork that has always been a feature of Irish sides, but abundant individual quality as well.

Shay Given has been one of the outstanding goalkeepers in this competition, as in the Premiership; Steve Finnan, Steve Staunton and the currently unemployed Gary Breen recovered well from a first-half chasing in the opening game against Cameroon, and only Ian Harte proved suspect defensively, compounded by the missed penalty in normal time against Spain. In midfield Matt Holland and Mark Kinsella valiantly pursued an impossible task, compensating for the banished Roy Keane.

The Manchester United midfielder may not have been missed in an emotional sense, but it would be foolish to pretend that his absence could be adequately covered, without actually fielding a team of least 13 men.

Damien Duff lived up to McCarthy's billing as a star to illuminate the tournament, and Robbie Keane alongside him found the confidence often lacking at Leeds, improving his goal ratio with three splendidly taken efforts in as many games. Niall Quinn was more effective in three appearances as a substitute than could reasonably be expected of any 35-year-old, emphasising the usefulness of aerial prowess as long as it does not reduce tactics to nothing more than a series of long balls.

A successor is required, and Millwall's Richard Sadlier is the most likely lad. The new season will also be the time for Andy O'Brien to succeed Steve Staunton in defence alongside Breen, who has all the right credentials ­ including a formidable knowledge of Gaelic football heroes ­ to take over the captaincy. That would also be the right time to promote Manchester United's John O'Shea ahead of Richard Dunne, and put Clinton Morrison in front of David Connolly in the strikers' pecking order. Whether or not Jason McAteer joins Staunton, Quinn and the third-choice goalkeeper Alan Kelly in saying sayonara to international football, Millwall's Steven Reid and Celtic's Colin Healy are the midfielders of the future.

As both Staunton and Quinn stressed in their valedictory interviews, there is no shortage of young talent. Yet it is not a matter of revamping the whole squad, most of whom have a solid collection of between 30 and 50 caps and are ready for more. The forthcoming European Championship campaign against Russia, Switzerland, Georgia and Albania promises greater discomfort in travel and convenience than football matters.

There are only two clouds on the horizon for McCarthy. A cartoonist illustrating them would draw two black ones, one representing the thunderous face of Roy Keane, and another labelled 'FAI inquiry'. What will the manager's position be if Keane, whether shamed or impressed by his team-mates' efforts in south-east Asia, finally brings himself to offer something that sounds vaguely like an apology for his appalling outburst in Saipan and stresses how desperate he is to represent his country again? Might there not be a surge in sales of the T-shirts still being spotted this week that read on the back 'Roy Keane' and on the front 'FCUK FAI'?

McCarthy's best hope on that one is that, faced with a friendly in Finland just as the new Premiership campaign begins and then visits to Russia, Georgia and Albania, Keane and Sir Alex Ferguson decide that, at 31, United's captain should concentrate on club football. The inquiry announced by the Football Association of Ireland in the middle of the tournament ­ a ham-fisted piece of timing ­ may be less easily dismissed, if it criticises the manager's handling of Keane in any way. In those circumstances, with the offending paragraphs leaked to a newspaper unsympathetic to McCarthy (and there are several in Ireland), it is not difficult to imagine him walking out.

Set up to examine all aspects of the FAI's organisation at the tournament, the driving force behind the investigation is believed to be John Delaney, the ambitious young FAI treasurer, whose father was drummed out of office after the 1994 finals. Yet the general secretary Brendan Menton is reported to regard it as an unnecessary exercise that could open up a Pandora's Box.

Menton could be open to censure for not having been on the spot to deal with the Keane affair, and so could the lamentable Irish public relations operation.

For the moment, however, such considerations will not concern the Dubliners who flock to Phoenix Park this evening. It is an appropriate venue. From the ashes of that dreadful prelude to the tournament and then a hugely disappointing first 45 minutes of it on the pitch, Irish football has been re-born.