Republic of Ireland 3 - 0 Wales: Clinical Irish give Gary Speed baptism of fire

Wales captain James Collins rued several costly errors as the Republic of Ireland handed Gary Speed a 3-0 defeat in his first game in charge in the Carling Nations Cup in Dublin.

Second-half goals from Darron Gibson, man of the match Damien Duff and Keith Fahey saw the Republic get their campaign off to an ideal start at the Aviva Stadium. But Speed will now have a much better understanding of the huge task ahead of him, and Collins admitted some old failings had reared their heads.

"We went in at half-time quite happy as they had not created that many chances," the Aston Villa defender said. "But we made individual errors which cost us, and that has been the case in the past and we need to cut those out if we are to move on. But this is the start of a long campaign under the new manager."

Duff's goal was his first for his country in almost two years, and he was delighted to help Giovanni Trapattoni's side earn a confidence-boosting win before Euro 2012 qualifying resumes next month. "I haven't scored for a couple of years and it's nice to get the points on the board in this new competition," Duff said.

"The Welsh lads made us work for it, but we played well and thoroughly deserved the win.

"This is a chance of silverware and we are in with a good chance, but the most important thing is qualifying for the European Championships, so the big one is next month."

Ireland enjoyed the bulk of the possession but were unable to find a breakthrough until the hour mark when Gibson struck a superb opener. The Manchester United midfielder took one touch after picking up a short pass from Glenn Whelan and unleashed a ferocious strike from 25 yards. Ireland doubled their advantage after 66 minutes as Jon Walters' cutback was missed by Shane Long, but not by Duff, who drilled home a goal his performance deserved. Ireland maintained their dominance and substitute Fahey, recalled to the squad last week after initially being overlooked, struck a brilliant free-kick.

Rep of Ireland: S Given (Manchester City); J O'Shea (Manchester United), S St Ledger (Preston), R Dunne, C Clark (both Aston Villa); S Coleman (Everton), G Whelan (Stoke), D Gibson (Manchester United), D Duff (Fulham); J Walters (Stoke), K Doyle (Wolves).

Wales: W Hennessey (Wolves); N Eardley (Blackpool), D Collins (Stoke), J Collins (Aston Villa), S Ricketts (Bolton); A Crofts (Norwich), A King (Leicester), D Vaughan (Blackpool); S Church (Reading), R Earnshaw (Nottingham Forest), H Robson-Kanu (Reading).