"It's a fair enough double all right," beamed Ireland manager Brian Kerr when somebody felt the need to remind him of the Under-16 success in Scotland a couple of months ago. "But we deserve it. We were the best side in the group, we beat Croatia well, should never lost against England and looked comfortable tonight, so I'm delighted that we've got a bit of a break."

The Irish management team have maintained a collective brave face since Tuesday's setback against England in Derynia, but after last night's victory Kerr admitted that they had major doubts about progressing to the final.

"I never really thought we'd lose against Cyprus, but still, this afternoon we were panicking, thinking that if we did lose and the other game ended in a draw, we'd be on a plane out of here tomorrow and we wouldn't even qualify for the World Championships in Nigeria next year.

"The real worry was the other game, though. Fair play to Croatia, we knew they were a good team and that it took some performance by us to beat them 5-2. They went out tonight and went for it and so I'm delighted that they've earned themselves a place in the third place play-off."

Confusion reigned in the minutes after the game had ended as small clusters of journalists and UEFA officials attempted to work out who had progressed from the other group. For a while it appeared that Portugal, who beat Germany last night, would provide the opposition in Sunday's final.

Then word filtered through of a late winner for Spain over Lithuania which, under the complex rules of this competition, had the effect of putting the Germans through instead.

Either way, centre half Richard Dunne was entirely unphased. "Basically on our day we're the best team in Europe, so I don't think we should worry too much about who it is we're playing in the final."

Nobody was too worried last night anyway, least of all Robbie Keane whose goals - two last night and one on Sunday - and tireless running had gone a long way toward seen the Irish through.

"The end was nerve-racking, I just kept thinking that even at 2-0 England were going to get a couple of penalties because they always seem to, but we're thrilled the way it's worked out.

"We were definitely the best team in the group. We dominated two of our games and just didn't play on the night against England and now that doesn't matter."

As the players finally drifted away toward the dressing-room only one official remained, still smiling contentedly in front of the terrace where the Irish fans had been serenading their heroes.

Noel O'Reilly had that sort of `didn't I tell you so' face. Scarcely recovered from the news that St Patrick's Athletic had shown themselves to be a match for Celtic, the Irish coach's body must have been struggling a little with the sudden demand for additional pleasure cells.

"We won this game at a hack," he said, "and at times it was almost as if our minds were on something else. The only fear was that we'd get the result we wanted in the other game and then we'd slip up here against Cyprus, but the lads were brilliant tonight and the Croatians turned out to be a bit of a Dundalk for me (Dundalk beat Shelbourne, enabling St Patrick's to win the title on the final day of last season).

"The spirit in the squad has been brilliant over the last couple of days. Of course, the heads went down a little after the England game, but we had a great training session last night, everybody really up for it and maybe then we knew there was just a smell of something."

By then we'd all got it. It was the sweet smell of success and once again it was thick in the nostrils.