'It got a nick off me': Keane praises the team's response, and claims a goal

AFTER making it through to the end and, he reckons, scored what would be his 55th goal for his country, it was clearly a good night for Robbie Keane but in the wake of a devastating defeat at the weekend it was probably a better one for the team.

“It was a big test for all of the players after Friday’s disappointing result,” the Dubliner acknowledged afterwards. “It was important that we stood up for each other and we certainly did tonight.

“I’ve said it before, that it’s important we all stick together when you’re going through something like this, important that the whole team . . . that the whole squad is on board. Lads could easily have crumbled with the amount of pressure they’ve been under but fair play to them, they didn’t.”

He insisted Ireland’s second goal was his but that, he said, was not the important thing. “Yeah, it got a nick off me,” he said, “but I’m just delighted we got a result. Our aim now is to kick on and to beat the teams around us, Sweden and Austria.

“We knew Germany would be the favourites and they’re kind of clear now,” said the striker, who was not aware at the time that Sweden had battled their way back to a remarkable draw in Berlin. “Our main objective is to finish second and we’re still on course to do that.”

As for the manager, he said: “He’s still everyone’s man .”

Jonathan Walters wasn’t giving up on the goal but the striker was clearly happy regardless with the night’s work overall.

“Of course it was difficult but I think we’ve shown we can bounce back. We’ve won 4-1 here and we could have got a few more. We played the right way. It was a difficult first half. It was cagey but we created a lot more chance in the second half.

“It was a great win for us, it was a difficult one for us but we won. Losing 6-1 is one of those results you’ve just got to deal with. As players, as a unit, as a squad – staff included – but we showed tonight we can deal with it. This is not an easy place to come to. And by winning 4-1 we showed that we can nick goals as well.”

Having not found the net in a club game Marc Wilson seemed an unlikely first scorer but Walters said that he knew the defender had a strike like that in him.

“Yeah, it was good one from Marc but it’s not a one-off. I see him in training. He scores them all the time, shoots from anywhere with his right foot and his left foot. He’s got some ability the lad.”

John O’Shea, meanwhile, was a relieved man after helping the team to start putting Friday’s defeat behind them. “We had to do that,” he said. “We owed it to everyone, ourselves, the management, the fans. We knew going into the group that Germany were the massive favourites. Obviously it was a massive disappointment.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to say that we’ve put everything right because we’ve come and beat the Faroe Islands and scored a couple of goals but it’s a positive reaction. We showed a lot of character. We scored some good goals and the games coming up are something to look forward to.

“Yes we’ve let ourselves down once or twice in some of the big games but that’s when you have to hold your hands up, the opposition are very good. We’ve lot to build on there, there are lots of positives to take.”