Quality long passing on a manky pitch from Steven Reid, Ian Harte, Richard Dunne. Ireland not only finding a suitable formation but playing to it after only two training sessions. Liam Miller's goal. Stephen Ireland's touches. Stephen Elliott's more than passable Ray Houghton impression.

The Robbie Keane masterstroke.

In another life Steve Staunton could easily have been a bouncer, so unflinching is his Don't Get Carried Away face. All the caveats we can dream up do, of course, apply . . . a meaningless friendly in which the Swedes weren't especially interested; a natural burst of intent from players trying to impress a new boss; the fact that Brian Kerr's first game was won every bit as easily three years ago in Glasgow. Still, there are a full 10 pleasant surprises in the above list. Were there only five of them, we'd still be talking about the best week in the longest time.

So although it goes hard against his nature, Staunton has some celebrating to do.

"Look, we're not kidding ourselves, " he warned afterwards on Wednesday night.

"We know we're not the finished article and that there's going to be hard times ahead of us. We know that there'll be times that we're going to be under the cosh and we're going to have to dig in. I'm not daft enough to expect it to be this good every time we play.

It's not all going to be a bed of roses and people know not to expect to turn up and watch us win 3-0 every time.

But for now, I'm delighted."

As he should be. It was an opening night that left nothing but bouquets strewn across the stage. It was as clear a validation as is possible at this early stage for the decision to change managers, the most high octane performance since the 0-0 in Paris all that toil and trouble ago.

Basking is something that doesn't come often or easily to a man in Staunton's job. He should allow himself enjoy it while it lasts.

At the very least, he can allow himself the satisfaction of a job well . . . and imaginatively . . . done. His 4-2-1-3 system made Ireland look like a side playing to win rather than merely avoid defeat for the first time since forever and while it will probably need someone with a bit less manners in him than John O'Shea playing in front of the back four to make it work when the real stuff starts, it warmed the heart to see it come off first time out.

The space it left Damien Duff and Elliott meant that when Ireland broke from defence, there was invariably more on for them than just trying to win a free kick. This from a man who spent much of his Ireland career hoisting balls from left-back up on top of his centre-forward's head. There's probably a lesson in there about books and covers.

"Good footballers can play anywhere, " Staunton said.

"I've given them licence to go and play and I think they've enjoyed it. I think it's important that I do that. If you look at the class of footballer I have out there, the type of footballer they are . . . Duffer, Robbie, Stephen Ireland, Liam Miller, Stephen Elliott . . .

they have to be given a little bit of freedom. The important thing is that they understand the other side of the game as well. The recovery, the support has to be good and it was brilliant tonight."

There was no better example of both sides of that coin, no better symbol of Staunton's stellar beginning, than the performance of his captain. Wednesday night was Keane's best game in an Ireland shirt since the 1-0 win over Holland in Amsterdam the week before Euro 2004, the night he coaxed a performance out of what was a similarly young and inexperienced side. The armband they gave him against Sweden looked actually to be a bit loose fitting because every once in a while he lifted his right hand up to push it up his arm or fiddle with it in some way. Maybe he was just checking to make sure it was, in fact, there all along.

It was there alright. It was there in the tap on the elbow he gave Kevin Doyle after his debutant strike partner had forced a corner early on. It was there in the smile and wink he gave Dunne after Zlatan Ibrahimovic only just got a clearing header in ahead of him from a bent-in free kick.

In the fist pump and tap on the backside he gave Reid after the Blackburn man was a little harshly carded for a meaty tackle in the first-half;

in the clearing header he attempted on his own penalty spot when tracking back a few minutes earlier; in the chance he manufactured for Ireland in the second half; in his ruthlessly-taken goal. It was there, even though few beyond Staunton had any inkling that it might be.

"Robbie's an intelligent footballer, " the manager said.

"He can play anywhere with the brain he has and the feet he has. He can see a pass, he can see a move develop.

But for the pitch he would have scored a brilliant goal in the first half when Joey O'Brien pulled it back to him. Unfortunately, I don't know, some leprechaun must have jumped up out of somewhere and knocked it away. But his movement was superb all game. He did great."

It's almost exactly eight years since the day Keane and Duff made their debuts together against the Czech Republic. Wednesday was graduation day. It's a little stirring to realise that Duff will be 31 by the time the next World Cup comes around and that Keane will turn 30 during it. This is their team now, theirs and Dunne's and Shay Given's. They know it and they accept it.

"I was a senior player in the last campaign, " said Duff on Wednesday, "but it's obviously more so now. I think I'm about the fourth oldest in the side at this stage so, yeah, when there's three or four new caps it's obviously going to be a big night for the younger players and they need a bit of help. And for the likes of me and Robbie and Shay, we have our parts to play now."

Staunton couldn't have put it better himself. Strip away all the bells and whistles, lose all the hype and false confidence that a win like this generates and you're still left with a manager who has created an atmosphere of positivity and can-do candour in one swift week's stroke.

When we asked him afterwards if he was surprised at how well he'd reacted to the first major challenge of his post-career career, he didn't blink. "I knew I could handle it. Obviously, it's different and I'm getting used to things but I've always felt I could do it."

It would be fair to say that up to this, he stood for the most part alone in his confidence. Not any more.