Even Robbie Keane could see Ireland’s bigger picture

To mangle poor old Willy the Shake — and, frankly, I’ve pretty much made a career out of doing just that — you could argue that nothing in Robbie Keane’s Irish career became him like the leaving it.

And I’m not talking about his valedictory goal on Wednesday night, even if it was indeed the purest drop, the very quintessence of Keano. The flick up and over to take out the defender, the turn to ready himself for the dropping ball, the stretching volley to leave the keeper helpless, and the whole thing executed in one instinctive, unbroken movement — this wasn’t the kind of goal you coach someone to score. This was the kind of goal I’m pretty sure Robbie Keane was scoring in games of three-and-in on the streets of Tallaght when he was just a nipper.

Chatting to Keith Andrews at half-time in the stadium, he said that on air he’d used the term ‘Gazza-esque’ to describe the finish, a reference to yer man’s goal for England against Scotland at Euro ’96. Others were reminded of a 17-year-old Pele pulling off a similar one-two combination against Sweden in the World Cup final of 1958. And much closer in time and much closer to home, who could forget Stephanie Roche’s almost world-beating worldie, although I would have to bow to the superior wisdom of the most knowledgeable football expert I know — that would be my 8-year-old daughter Laila — who insists that Steph’s goal was much more spectacular than Robbie’s.