Ireland manager Athletico Teabag had promised some changes for the friendly against The Philippines, and as the teams lined-out on the North Western coast of the archipelago it became apparent that a gamble or two was in the offing. While this was by no means a weakened side, the sight of Evan Byrne in the forward line was an instant talking point.

While the Cavan Celtic man undoubtedly has the skills of a striker and an impressive goal-poaching record in Division 2, the wisdom of playing NT players out of position has been questioned by better managers than your reporter in the past… Would it reap dividends this time? Or would Ireland be better served fielding it’s two top Attacking Midfielders side-by-side?

Martin McLaughlin –one of the few NT standard Irish playing abroad- was given the chance to take advantage of David O’ Callaghan’s poor form at international level and prove his worth on the left-wing.

The 4-4-2 Diamond formation employed by both teams meant that Teabag’s own Daragh McCartan got a run out. The DMC/MC position is perhaps the greatest dilemma facing Ireland at present with several strong candidates but none that could be called ‘the finished article’.

The game got off to a slow start with both sides trying to hit the other on the break, but bruising –and bookable- tackles put paid to the initial attempts to seize the initiative. Clearly, this was going to be a friendly in name only. With little over a quarter of an hour passed, The Phillipines foxed the Irish defence, giving Alfredo Peláez the space to open the scoring from outside the area, 1-0 to the home team.

Ireland were slow to react to going behind, but Peláez wasted the set piece opportunities his team carved out and then the visitors had the initiative handed to them on a plate as the red mist descended on Máximo Belinchón, his tackle on Rory Ó Raighne earning a straight red card.

Curiously, the home side continued to press and created the next meaningful attack although The Cat had it covered. Ireland did finally come to life just before the break but Andy glynn let the pressure get to him and put his header wide.

As the second half got underway it seemed that he was determined to make up for that error as he sent Chris Dawson through on goal only to be denied by the Filipino keeper. On 52 minutes he combined with McCartan and this time he made no mistake, rounding the keeper and equalising for Ireland!

Having restored parity, Ireland failed to maintain the pressure and the best chances after that goal fell to the home side, The Cat being forced into a miracle save around the hour mark the most notable event.

As the clock wore down, both sides seemed to be negating each other in midfield and with chances few and far between, it seemed that both managers would take the draw and seek to move on. Ireland’s forward line misfired badly for the duration of the match although performances in other areas will be more heartening for the management team.

Next up for the boys in green is a trip to Armenia for another crucial qualifier, let’s hope we learned more than Aramis did from this tie…

Man Of The Match – Alfredo Peláez, top player showed his class, although he didn’t have an easy time of it.