Craig Brown's patched-up Scotland overcame the shock of Mark Kennedy's wickedly-deflected second-minute goal to beat an almost equally experimental Republic of Ireland line-up with replies from Don Hutchison and Barry Ferguson. It was a deserved success for the Scots who will not play again until their first World Cup qualifier against Latvia in Riga in September.

Having seen his team go down in front of more than 30,000 fans at Lansdowne Road, Irish boss Mick McCarthy must now contemplate a three-match tour of America later this week. He will again be without a string of his first-choice performers and will want to see more emerging from their deputies who puffed and puffed their way through this friendly but failed to make a real impact. Both managers fielded what amounted to B teams at the end of another long season.

But that certainly did not seem to worry the fans, especially the 3,000-odd members of the Tartan Army who converged on Dublin. The Irish had a goal to cheer after just two minutes thanks to Kennedy's willingness to try his luck with a free-kick from 25 yards. His optimism was rewarded when luckless Craig Burley, instinctively sticking out a leg to block the low-driven missile, managed only to divert it wide of the bewildered Neil Sullivan and into the net.

The new Tottenham goalkeeper clearly had the effort covered, but it would be hard on both Kennedy and Burley to call it an own goal. McCarthy's team were soon looking for more goals, and Robbie Keane looked capable of embarrassing the Scots with his determined running. Yet it was Scotland who showed their hosts how to finish, and with Hutchison displaying a classy touch almost whenever he was on the ball they were ahead before the half-hour.

First, Burley and Neil McCann penetrated Ireland's central defence with a passing exchange that left Hutchison with a simple tap-in after 16 minutes. Then 13 minutes later, after the Irish had been working up another head of steam, Ferguson was left with an even easier finish. Hutchison made a mug of Phil Babb, pushing the ball between his legs and running round him to slide in a cross which brought Billy Dodds and Steve Carr into 50-50 contention. Almost inevitably the ball ran loose as both went down in a heap, and Ferguson slotted into an empty net from four yards for his first international goal. Babb, increasingly uncomfortable in a rare start since the days when he promised to become Ireland's main man with a string of sophisticated displays at the 1994 World Cup, gave Hutchison another opportunity to shine with a clumsy tackle that brought a free-kick 30 yards out. The Everton man hit it powerfully and low wide of an ill-constructed wall - and Alan Kelly managed to cling on to it only at the second attempt with Matt Elliott moving in menacingly.

The evening proved a testing debut for Leeds United youngster Stephen McPhail who continually found himself out-manoeuvred in midfield by Scotland's sharper passing - and it would be harsh to judge him in a game where he lacked the considerable support of the injured Roy Keane and Mark Kinsella. Scotland's own first-time starter Gary Naysmith slotted in well in an unfamiliarly advanced role on the left. He was caught out a couple of times, but neither Jason McAteer nor Steve Finnan capitalised in possession.

It was Robbie Keane, in fact, who switched to the right to try to exert some extra pressure on Naysmith at the start of the second half. But after Finnan was slow to react to Quinn's knock-down header in the box after 50 minutes, the Scots missed a golden chance to put the result beyond doubt. Hutchison made another superb run to receive Burley's pass in acres of space on the right. But Kevin Gallacher, who had come on as a substitute for Dodds at half-time, failed to connect with a perfect cross eight yards out and also put off McCann who was in an even better position behind the Newcastle forward.

Stung by that let-off, the Irish stepped up the tempo with Kevin Kilbane, released from his left-side defensive duties by the arrival of veteran Terry Phelan as a substitute, put over a stream of crosses for his Sunderland team-mate Quinn. But it produced nothing more tangible than a clutch of corners - and nothing as close as Hutchison's glancing header from a Ferguson cross which slipped just wide. Kelly had to make an impressive save to prevent Ferguson adding a second goal for himself in the 74th minute after McCann had won the ball and fed his Rangers team-mate an inviting opportunity. Ireland never gave up, but Niall Quinn's hopes of equalling Frank Stapleton's all-time scoring record of 20 goals in his 76th international disappeared again when he was substituted. Sullivan did well to keep out a Robbie Keane blast from a Carr free-kick after the Coventry youngster had passed up two earlier half-chances.

Rep of Ireland: A. Kelly, Kilbane, Babb, Breen (Foley 77), Carr, McPhail (Duff 61), McAteer, Finnan, Kennedy (Phelan 61), Quinn (Dunne 77), R. Keane. Subs Not Used: Mahon, Kiely, Farrelly. Booked: Kilbane.

Scotland: Sullivan, Dailly, Elliott, O'Neil, Naysmith (Durrant 89), McCann (Pressley 90), Lambert (Johnston 75), Ferguson (Cameron 84), Burley, Hutchison, Dodds (Gallacher 45). Subs Not Used: Gould, Holt, Burchill.

Ref: V. Melo-pereiro (Portugal).

McCANN EXPECTED BOO BOYS RECEPTION

NEIL McCANN knew he would be jeered every touch of the ball by the Republic of Ireland fans at Lansdowne Road last night - but he refused to allow the abuse to put him off his game. The Rangers winger was one of three Ibrox players singled out by the home support throughout Scotland's 2-1 victory in their final friendly fixture before the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. McCann admits he has had a mixed season at club level despite Rangers' domestic double but turned on the style last night to silence the barracking in his direction. His pass set up Don Hutchison's 16th-minute strike to cancel out Mark Kennedy's deflected second-minute opener before Barry Ferguson sealed victory with a tap-in just before the half-hour.

McCann said: "I knew I was going to get stick just purely because of the fact I play for Rangers - but I don't think it was any different from playing at Celtic Park. "To be honest I just enjoyed the experience. It was good to play well and be part of what was a great result. The boys were determined to show we could play good football last night." The Scots were criticised for negative tactics against the Dutch in Arnhem last month when securing a 0-0 draw, and McCann stressed he felt that was an unfair verdict. He added: "We took a lot of heart from the Holland result because they were always going to be difficult to play against - we could hardly have gone gung-ho against them. "We proved last night we are capable of creating chances and taking them. I felt we built on the Dutch result and went one better."

Scotland manager Craig Brown seemed more concerned with praising the Irish than his own side after a fluent display which perhaps merited more credit. He said: "I felt the Irish deserved at least a draw for their territorial advantage. If I was Mick McCarthy I would be disappointed to have given the way the game went. "Our goals were excellent. But we started the game badly, which is unusual for us. We were good on the counter-attack, though, and we've kept our encouraging away record going."