Cunningham backs Keane to smash record

Republic of Ireland skipper Kenny Cunningham is backing Robbie Keane to set a scoring record which may never be broken.

Keane netted the 21st goal of his international career in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Cyprus at Lansdowne Road to equal the milestone previously achieved by Niall Quinn.

The Spurs striker stroked home Ireland’s third from the penalty spot to put the seal on a convincing victory as manager Brian Kerr’s side began their World Cup qualifying campaign in fine style.

Ireland now turn their attention tomorrow to Switzerland, who are the early group four pacesetters after their 6-0 thrashing of the Faroe Islands on Saturday.

Keane has already stated he would love to become Ireland’s leading scorer with a goal against the Swiss to help avenge the two defeats suffered in the qualifying round of the European Championships.

Cunningham sees no reason why Keane cannot achieve such a feat and then push back the boundaries further given he is still only 24, providing he stays healthy.

“It’s fantastic for him he’s got the record,” said Cunningham.

“From very early on in his international career, people realised if he kept himself fit then it would be only a matter of time before the record came to him.

“He’s only a goal away now from being out there on his own, and it would be great if he could get it tomorrow.

“If he then stays fit for the next five years, there’s no reason why he can’t put some distance between himself and the other names on the list.

“Robbie has been quite lucky with injuries up to this point in his career, so if he does stay fit then he should continue to play a major part for us.

“He is a quality player and he can be a catalyst. Having played alongside him for a number of years, we all know the ability he has.

“It’s no surprise to us he’s clocking up these kind of figures, and hopefully while he is scoring goals the team can remain successful and qualify for the major championships.”

Cunningham is hopeful he and his team-mates can at least do themselves justice against Switzerland on this occasion, realising they let down themselves, their country and their fans last October when they were beaten 2-0 in Basle to end their Euro 2004 hopes.

While players like Clinton Morrison and Keane speak in emotive terms of revenge, Cunningham is eager to remain controlled and focused, and determined to simply make amends for what was a poor performance at St Jakob Park.

“I would hardly say we’re favourites for this game because I’m sure the Swiss will point to the last two matches when they beat us on both occasions,” added Cunningham.

“They’ll be going into the game with a lot of confidence, and rightly so, because they are very organised and they’ve also played together for a long period of time.

“They are almost like a club side at international level, and they’ve one or two good individual players, so we will certainly give them the respect they deserve and we will have to be at our best to get a result.

“But I don’t think there’s any kind of grudge because I think they were the better team over the two previous games – hands down. They deserved to qualify from the group.

“But there’s a sense of frustration they didn’t see the best of the Irish the last time around, so we’re determined that this time they see what the Irish team is really about.

“We’ve certainly prepared as well as we can and hopefully we can put on a performance this time the Irish public can be proud of.”