By Tim Nash at Craven Cottage

Wolves past and present came together to light up the Republic of Ireland’s performance on a balmy night in west London.

Fans’ player of the year Kevin Foley stepped out of the shadows of the Championship onto the spotlight of the international arena, carrying his renowned composure and tidy passing with an effortless leap to suggest he can keep his place for much sterner tests with a World Cup qualifier in Bulgaria looming next Saturday.

Foley, who was replaced by Sunderland’s Paul McShane after 72 minutes, won plaudits from all over the Irish camp afterwards for his polished performance at right-back.

Of all the six debutants – Sean St Ledger, Eddie Nolan, one-time Mick McCarthy Sunderland signing Liam Lawrence, Leon Best and second-half substitute Keiren Westwood – Foley, watched by benched club-mate Andy Keogh throughout, impressed the most.

And it was a combination between two former Wolves players who never got the chance to play together in gold and black who combined for Ireland’s equaliser.

A delightfully weighted through ball from Blackburn midfielder Keith Andrews split the defence for Tottenham’s Robbie Keane to dance through to score, almost exactly a year to the day he did the same against Colombia at the same venue.

On a night when two ex-Molineux stars captained their teams – the excellent Keane and Stoke’s Seyi Olofinjana – the former’s showing as a withdrawn striker outshone the latter’s solid display in an anchorman role.

Ireland had the better of the first half and went in level after Keane cancelled out Michael Enemaro’s opener. Best almost got a sniff of goal as early as the second minute when he closed down a backpass only for highly impressive keeper Austin Ejide to get there first.

But it was Nigeria who had the first serious chance when Kalu Uche stunned everyone with a quickly-taken free-kick from 50 yards that keeper Shay Given scrambled over.

The busy Andrews then drove a foot over before a great tackle by Sam Sodje on Best denied the Coventry striker.

So it was something of a surprise when Nigeria took the lead on the half-hour mark. Michael Enemaro swivelled smartly to turn home right-back Femi Olubayo’s cross after the striker just reached the ball ahead of Foley.

But the Irish continued to play some neat football and equalised in the 37th minute.

And it was a goal to savour as Andrews split the defence with a reverse through pass for Keane to round Ejide and slot home into an empty net for his 39th goal in 89 caps. If the first half was entertaining, the second period was something of a damp squib. Olofinjana failed to trouble debut keeper Westwood with a fierce drive from distance in an early attack.

But Keane’s half-time replacement Shane Long went desperately close to a winner within seven minutes of coming on when his lob was tipped wide by Ejide.

Andrews went almost as close when his 20-yard effort was deflected narrowly wide.

After that, the game petered out as a contest, the competitive edge drowned out by a stream of substitutions by both sides.

Ireland (4-4-1-1): Given (Westwood HT); Foley (McShane 72), Dunne, St Ledger, Nolan; Lawrence (Hunt 81), Andrews (Whelan 58), Miller, Duff (McGeady HT); Keane (Long HT); Best. Subs not used: Kilbane, Keogh, Kelly.

Nigeria (4-1-3-2): Ejide; Olumbayo, Sodje (Nwankwo Obinna 77), Adeleye, Mohammed; Olofinjana; Utaka, Uche, Aluko (Nsofor Obinna 61); Enemaro, Akpala (Odemwingie 61). Subs not used: Enyeama, Kanu, Etuhu.

Attendance: 10,000 (estimated).