Mood now upbeat and bullish

PLAYERS' REACTION: A great deal has changed in the Republic of Ireland camp since many of these players slipped out of Lansdowne Road last October looking downbeat after their 2-1 defeat by Switzerland.

It was never more evident this week than 30 minutes after the final whistle at Hampden Park last night as a renewed sense of optimism was evident among players. Most expressed satisfaction with the fact they had given their new manager a win to mark his first game in charge. All, though, saw the ease with which they had overcome the Scots as a signal that they can still turn around their European qualification campaign.

"Brian's got the winning start he wanted," observed Steven Reid, "but the important thing is that it's up to all of us to build on this evening. I think we'll definitely draw confidence from tonight though."

Kevin Kilbane, scorer of Ireland's first goal and an impressive contributor throughout the game, said he was delighted to have scored his fourth international goal but, he added: "It was the team performance that mattered and in all honesty we were very comfortable from the start.

"We passed the ball well and felt great at the end. Everyone enjoyed it and there were a lot of positives from the point of view of the team getting back into the competitive games in a few weeks' time."

The night's other goalscorer, Clinton Morrison, was equally upbeat although he laughed off praise for what looked like a fine strike in the 16th minute.

"It wasn't all that good really," he said. "The ball came out and I managed to swing at it with my left foot. It was great to see it go into the bottom corner but I wouldn't want to get too carried away."

He took care to acknowledge he remains one of those who is far from sure of even starting when Ireland play next in Georgia.  "We'll have to see," he sighed. "Robbie (Keane) and Duffer are great players and I don't know what Brian will do. All I can do, though, is keep on doing my best and hopefully I've helped my cause a little bit with the way I played tonight."

Despite performing strongly until he was replaced by Nicky Colgan, Dean Kiely is almost certain to sit out the game in Tblisi unless Shay Given is injured. The Charlton goalkeeper is bullish about the team's prospects.

"What happened us before Christmas was a little blip. We always felt it was something we could put right and the performance tonight shows we can."