Team spirit was never an issue, says happy Keane

GOALS, smiles and a rousing, guttural cheer from the Lansdowne Road crowd at the finish.

It was as far removed from the death throes of Brian Kerr's era which came to a premature end with two strangely subdued evenings against Switzerland and France late last year.

The new bounce that was so apparent in Team Staunton was captured perfectly after Robbie Keane made a beeline for Mick Byrne in the dug-out immediately after scoring Ireland's second goal soon after the restart.

Kerr's time in charge was dogged by rumours that he was helming an unhappy ship but the new Irish captain brushed aside suggestions that his embrace with Byrne could be construed as some sort of slight on the former regime.

"The team spirit has always been here, it was here under Brian as well. You can't say it wasn't here under Brian because it was. But to have Mick Byrne come back has been nice," said Keane. "You've seen how much all the lads like Mick and that was just my way of saying 'welcome back'."

For a guy wearing the armband for the first time, last night couldn't have passed off any sweeter in his dreams with his own strike capping off a deeply satisfactory first night at the office for his new manager.

"I thought it was a tremendous performance. The lads showed some tremendous spirit. We worked as a team and were very professional. It's always nice to start off with a good performance. Damien put us off to a flier and we didn't look back."

In the past, the Tottenham man has been criticised for a tendency to drop too deep away from the opposition penalty area where he can do most harm, but last night he was merely following orders in patrolling closer to the centre circle.

It was a role that suited him perfectly last night, especially when the game shed the straitjacket imposed on it by the disciplined Swedish defence after the break.

"Yeah, Stan asked me to play there. I enjoyed it. I like coming off deep anyway. He told the two other lads to stay up a bit further.

"It was tough at first because they played very tight but once Damien got the goal it started to open up a bit more. We didn't look back from there."

Damien Duff wore a smile just as broad as his skipper's afterwards, even if his words were, as usual for the unassuming Chelsea man, few and far between.

His first goal on international duty in almost two years spoke volumes for a performance that illuminated the dreary old stadium on a cold March evening. Duff too though nipped in the bud the suggestion that playing for Ireland last night offered up more enjoyable moments than in the entire Kerr chapter combined.

"I dunno, it's a new era. Hopefully it's the start of great things to come.

"We all loved Brian but it just didn't work out. It was a good performance tonight as much as a good result and that was great because it was important to send the fans away happy."

Joey O'Brien was next to venture his thoughts on the occasion and he surely spoke for the rest of Ireland's rookies when admitting that it was a night they would always remember, no matter how many times they pull a green shirt over their heads.

"All the lads were great, I'm delighted with it. I thought we did well and deserved to win. I thought I did well enough. I'm not the nervous type so I was just delighted to get the run. I made a couple of mistakes but hopefully I'll get the chance to rectify that."