Not so long ago, we're thinking a couple of weeks, Sunderland wouldn't have come away from a goal down at Pride Park with three points.

You can throw in the new manager factor as explanation for the hunger and effort and application but that the team turned this around so emphatically surely has at least a couple of Roy Keane fingerprints on it.

More than a hint of Irishness about the team sheet with five starters . . . Rory Delap, Kenny Cunningham, Graham Kavanagh, Liam Miller and David Connolly . . .

along with Stephen Elliot on the bench. A regular Irish ghetto being formed in the north-east. It's fair to say that all five played a part, with two of them in particular giving the sort of midfield displays that might draw a few admiring glances from Steve Staunton.

There were little cameos throughout that showed what Keane might be trying to achieve here, and his footballing ideology. Some neat one-touch exchanges that smacked of nothing more than a week practising those very snappy passes at training.

We can't imagine him doing a Jack Charlton by busting up a game of keepball at training for fear the players would try it in a game . . . we'd go so far as to say it'll go on to be a staple of any Keane session. Anyways, Kavanagh, Miller and Dean Whitehead zapped it around and took the ball in some positions they mightn't have unless instructed. A sign of things to come.

There was also a purpose, a buzz about Sunderland and the way they went about their work. Gone were the fumblings of early season . . . a time let's remember that Niall Quinn described as having a depressing gloominess about the club . . . and if it's a bit early to be either talking of new glorious eras or indeed landing all the credit on a certain Corkman, well there was an unmistakable glow in Sunderland's football.

To that Irish contingent.

Liam Miller started right midfield, drifted into the middle more often than not and managed to get himself into scoring positions six times in the first half alone, the sort of positions that he was drifting into regularly just two years ago with Celtic. He was only a foot away from having two or three by half-time and was involved in more or less anything of note that Sunderland did in attack.

If Keane can get Miller back into this sort of attacking groove it won't be only Sunderland to benefit. Graham Kavanagh did more or less what it says on the tin, putting himself about in midfield and giving the short, simple pass when required.

There's no shortage of leadership through the middle of the team either with Kavanagh and Cunningham calling the shots.

As an aside, those on Keanewatch , and believe us, there were general shiftings in seats anytime he so much as blinked, had to wait about 35 minutes for the first confrontation of his management era. The linesman had already gotten a stare when a dodgy backpass decision brought Keane off the bench and in the official's face. It just wouldn't have been right without some sort of verbals.

The game itself was run of the mill championship stuff for the most part. The opener for Derby was pretty out of the blue as the first half played itself out. A long ball to the back post, and a Steve Howard (who'd been causing problems with his aerial strength) knockdown gave Matt Oakley an opening from about 10 yards out and the Derby midfielder hammered the first concession of the Keane era. It mightn't have been with the run of play, but the lapse in concentration will have irked Keane. The inevitable "Keano, Keano what's the score?" followed, something he may have to get used to.

That Miller and Kavanagh were involved in the equaliser was a whole helping of aptness. Miller spread a pass crossfield out left, Kavanagh drove on and played a onetwo into the box, and then whipped a ball across for Whitehead to force in.

A couple of minutes later Ross Wallace piled onto a loose ball, scampered around the full-back and darted a shot to the bottom corner.

2-1 Sunderland. Three Roy Keane signings to thank. The leap from the bench wasn't exactly Martin O'Neill but it was passionate, calm and controlled all in one, just like he promised.

Choruses of "There's only one Keano" drowned the final whistle. Small beginnings, if no less special for all that.

PREMIERSHIP REPORTS, PAGE 35