Keane vows to carry on scoring
Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr said before his side’s 2-0 win over Faroe Islands it was inevitable Robbie Keane would become his country’s all-time leading goalscorer - and so it proved on a night the Tottenham striker will long remember.
The goal that finally set Keane out on his own, just as it did when he equalled Niall Quinn’s record, came from the penalty spot, but not too much notice will be made of that when the history books are analysed down the years.
At the age of 24, and after 56 caps and in just six and a half years, Keane has managed what it took Quinn 91 caps and 16 years to achieve, so the possibilities appear endless.
With a first-half brace in this World Cup qualifier at Lansdowne Road, Keane took his tally to 23, and if he remains fit there is every chance he will push his own mark beyond 40, maybe even up to 50.
Keane was naturally delighted, with the defining moment coming in the 14th minute when he drove home a penalty after Damien Duff had been brought down by Jon Roi Jacobsen after a surging, jinking run into the area.
“It’s a great feeling to break the record,” beamed Keane after the game.
“As a kid living on the streets of Tallaght, it was always a dream to play for my country, but breaking the record is something special for me.
“I love scoring goals and I will just continue with what I do best and try to score as many as I can.”
Kerr revealed there had been no talk within the camp in the build-up to the game of the prospects of Keane breaking the record, although he did add it may have been at the back of the player’s mind.
But Kerr hailed Keane’s feat as “a wonderful achievement at such a young age”, with his second goal coming just after the half-hour when he slipped the ball into an empty net after Jacobsen and goalkeeper Jakup Mikkelsen failed to deal with a low Roy Keane cross.
He added: “It has been inevitable for a while. I think when he got into the team in the early stages, people were saying he would break records.
“I am sure he will extend it – he had a fair chance to do that last night - but I think he will score goals for us for many more years to come.”
Kerr, though, could not hide his disappointment at the scoreline as it should have been far more emphatic due to the number of other chances that went begging - 26-2 in Ireland’s favour.
Keane should have had at least a hat-trick, and the same goes for Damien Duff, while the likes of Andy Reid, Liam Miller, Gary Doherty and Steve Finnan were either wasteful or denied by the otherwise excellent Mikkelsen.
“In the second half we had lots of chances to score more goals and win more comfortably than 2-0, but overall it was a decent enough performance and we played some great stuff, great football,” reflected Kerr.
“I’m sure there will be some sense of disappointment among the players that they didn’t score more, but when they step away from it and reflect on the past few days, it’s a fair achievement to take four points.
“It was a good performance against France on Saturday night [a 0-0 draw] and it was a good performance against the Faroes, so they will be happy with themselves.”
Ireland have accrued eight points from their opening four matches to leave them on top of Group Four heading into the international winter break, and barring a 5-0 Israel win in Cyprus next month, that will remain the case until the next game in Tel Aviv in March.
It is a positive position to be in, as Kerr acknowledged: “I would have loved 12 points, but it doesn’t generally go like that for you in life.
“I think it’s been a very good start considering we took the Switzerland and France games so early on.
“We have won the two home games we were expected to win and with the away games you do not know what you are going to get, but we have eight points overall, so it’s very satisfactory.”
