World Cup: Duff display delights Keane

Damien Duff was paid the highest of accolades today when Robbie Keane put him in the same bracket as Ryan Giggs and Harry Kewell.

Blackburn winger Duff was the star of the show in the Republic’s impressive victory over the Danes in front of 42,000 fans at Lansdowne Road last night.

He continually dazzled the Danish defence with his wizardry and provided the pin-point cross from which Ian Harte opened the scoring, before goals from Keane and Clinton Morrison completed a night of pure positives for manager Mick McCarthy.

Leeds striker Keane led the tributes to Duff when he said: ‘‘I put him up there with the Ryan Giggs and Harry Kewells of this world. It is great playing alongside Damien.’’

McCarthy said that after a performance like last night, everybody going to the World Cup finals in Korea and Japan this summer will know about Duff, who was rightly named man of the match.

‘‘He will no longer be a surprise package at the World Cup everyone will know about him now,’’ said McCarthy.

‘‘Damien plays a physically demanding game and excels in one-against-one situations. He was outstanding against the Danes.

‘‘Niall Quinn, sitting beside me in the dug-out, turned to me after just three minutes and said that Damien had already won the man-of-the-match award. How right he was.’’

Keane’s spectacular 25-yard strike was his 10th goal for the Republic and helped make up for the disappointment he is currently experiencing at club level.

He has dropped to fourth choice behind fellow strikers Mark Viduka, Robbie Fowler and Alan Smith, and has started only one game for his club this year whereas last night was his second start for the Republic in 2002.

‘‘There is nothing much I can do about the situation at Leeds, but I feel good, I feel sharp,’’ added Keane.

‘‘That must have been the first goal I have ever scored for Ireland from outside the box. We played well for the 90 minutes.’’

Another bonus for McCarthy was that Keane hit it off with Morrison, who made his full debut and scored a deserved goal in stoppage time.

The 22-year-old Crystal Palace striker might have had a hat-trick but for some fine goalkeeping, but he was happy enough with one.

‘‘It was a relief when I side-footed that ball home,’’ said Morrison. ‘‘I just kept working and working and was just glad that late opportunity presented itself.’’

McCarthy said of his new strike pairing: ‘‘Now I have loads of options as Robbie Keane and Clinton Morrison did very well up front.

‘‘It would have been a psychological boost for Robbie to score against the Danes, just as he did at Lansdowne Road against Russia last month.

‘‘I was particularly delighted that Clinton scored the goal he deserved in added time, as he had performed exceptionally well throughout the game and had a good understanding with Robbie.

‘‘This was a difficult looking game for us on paper. But at the end it wasn’t difficult, and we might have scored even more than three goals.’’

Another bonus for McCarthy was that both Dean Kiely and Nicky Colgan bidding to become deputy for Shay Given - both made impressive saves to keep a clean sheet as they shared the goalkeeping spot.

‘‘What can I say about Nicky Colgan,’’ said McCarthy. ‘‘Dean Kiely had brought off a magnificent save from Martin Rommendahl in the first half, but then Nicky came to Kenny Cunningham’s rescue after a defensive mix-up in the second half. The lad can be well pleased with his debut.

‘‘I won’t name my 23-man squad to travel to Japan this summer just yet and certainly not until after next month’s game in Dublin against the USA. But put it this way, things are progressing nicely.’’