Tremendous victory has given Stan food for thought, says MacDonald

IRELAND Head Coach Kevin MacDonald last night hailed Ireland’s 4-0 drubbing of Denmark and said that it would give manager Steve Staunton “food for thought” as he ponders his selection for the forthcoming European Championship qualifiers against Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Still mourning the death of his father Tom, Staunton understandably declined to go before the cameras and the mics after last night’s game and so it fell to MacDonald to sum up an amazing result.

“It was a tremendous victory, winning away 4-0 in Denmark,” he said, “although if they had taken their early chances it could have been very different. If you were marking the players, no-one would get less than seven out of ten. And it means that Stephen now has some difficult choices to make for the next two games.”

Said Liverpool’s Steve Finnan: “We got the goals at the right time and kept the ball really well. Our finishing was clinical and that kind of result will give us confidence for the next two games. The young lads played well, people like Darren Potter and Aiden McGeady, and that’s good for the future of Irish football.”

Reading’s Stephen Hunt sounded a reality check when he said: “It was brilliant but it doesn’t count for anything. You can get carried away with a result like this but if we’d done badly we would have been criticised.”

And Robbie Keane, who lost his own father four years ago, paid a moving tribute to Steve Staunton after a traumatic week for the manager when he said: “I know myself what he is going through. If we could put a smile back on his face, event though it won’t make up for it, it was nice.”