"I would not change him for any player in the world for what he does."

Keane started the Republic ball rolling with a deflected 32nd minute blast.

Ian Harte converted a penalty ten minutes later and Leeds team-mate Gary Kelly fired a 20-yarder, 10 minutes after which skipper Keane struck again right at the death.

Apart from the goals, Keane's main contribution was his non-stop midfield foraging and his dynamic influence on the rest of the side.

McCarthy was without big striker Niall Quinn and top-quality full back Stephen Carr through injuries.

He also recalled Kenny Cunningham at centre back in place of young Richard Dunne, but apart from the odd scare, Ireland were always in control.

It was their biggest away win since beating Liechtenstein 5-0 in August 1996 - McCarthy's first competitive game in charge - and he admitted: "We came here as heavy favourites but we haven't always delivered away from home against supposedly inferior opposition.

"People will look in the newspapers and see that we won 4-0 but it wasn't an easy win, it was hard-fought. The Cyprus coach tried a few tactical changes and gave us some problems for a while.

"But I was very pleased with David Connolly and it was a pity he didn't score a goal. It was nice, though, to get goals from other areas of the team.

"I don't know about first place in the group because I still believe Portugal are the best team in our section, but we've given ourselves a chance with our performances in Holland and Portugal earlier this season and now we've got this win here.

"We'll know more on Wednesday when Portugal play Holland in Oporto.

"I said all week it wouldn't be as easy in Cyprus as some people thought but we've come out of it well. I certainly wasn't expecting it to be easy.

"We go to Barcelona to play Andorra on Wednesday and then we've got them at home before we play Portugal in June. That's a crunch match."