Goal hero Andrews praises Irish squad and spirit

KEITH ANDREWS left Liege last night with the Man of the Match award after his wonder goal against the Italians but, like Robbie Keane before him last Saturday, collective glory was more important than individual honour.

A first-half Andrews strike and a late Simon Cox goal ensured Giovanni Trapattoni was the happiest Italian in the 21,000 plus crowd at the home of Standard Liege.

Andrews played in the four games that marked the end of Ireland’s season, winning the Carling Nations Cup matches against Northern Ireland and Scotland, starring in Macedonia and then scoring last night.

“It’s been a long few weeks for everyone in the squad but what a way to finish it,” said Andrews.

“It shows you the squad we have that we can make so many changes from Macedonia and come here and get a win against one of the best teams in the world in what was all but a home game for them.

“We have that spirit in the squad. A lot has happened in the last few weeks, people weren’t happy about the missing players and we weren’t going to be happy about it.

“But we didn’t let it affect us. We got on with it, we’ve had four great results now and the lads who played tonight have sent out a message to the manager.

“It’s up to him to decide who he welcomes back in the future but those who played and won tonight didn’t do themselves any harm at all.”

As for that man of the match award, Andrews was as surprised as the next man. “I didn’t think I deserved it either,” he laughed before anyone could throw a verbal dig in his direction.

“I needed the four games in a row after the injuries I’ve had but I wouldn’t say I got better as I went along. I was tired tonight and I think the goal made up for a lot of it.

“They didn’t close me down off the free kick so I had to have a go.”

Wolves winger Stephen Hunt turned in a good night’s shift and admitted it was a ragball rovers win for the Irish against the aristocrats of world football.

“We had a good laugh when they got off the bus in their impeccable Italian suits and we looked like ragball Rovers,” revealed Hunt.

“But we got the win. What was the result? Ireland won and I am delighted for everyone but especially for Paul McShane who’s got so much stick from all the media.”

As for the Ireland captain for the night, McShane himself said: “It was hard, it was hard to begin with. We didn’t really keep the ball and stuff but we defended very well and we were good as unit, defended the box well. It was good to get the first one and the second one was the icing on the cake.”