Keane hat-trick sinks minnows

Republic of Ireland 5 San Marino 0

Steve Staunton’s unwanted run of five matches without a victory finally came to an end with an expected triumph over a side with a reputation of being the worst in Europe.

Republic of Ireland manager Staunton started his reign earlier in the year with a 3-0 thumping of Sweden, but since then little has gone right for the 37-year-old.

Against San Marino in this Euro 2008 qualifier Ireland did what they had to do, with captain Robbie Keane ultimately taking his all-time leading goalscorer’s tally to 28 with a hat-trick.

The Tottenham striker was joined on the score sheet by Kevin Doyle, the Reading forward netting the first for his country on his fifth appearance, with the easy win initiated by an own goal from Davide Simoncini.

While the scoreline failed to match the 13-0 and 7-0 hidings handed out to San Marino by Germany and the Czech Republic in their first two Group D matches, at least Ireland have a win under their belt.

San Marino were not expected to offer stern resistance, not when you consider they had lost all 36 of their previous European Championship qualifying games, conceding 163 goals into the bargain.

However, in the back of the mind the memory of the debacle in Cyprus was still fresh when Ireland were humiliated 5-2 just over five weeks ago.

A semblance of pride was at least salvaged a few days later when they produced the most captivating of performances with a 1-1 draw against the highly-fancied Czechs.

On that night, with Staunton’s job seemingly on the line and the players having been criticised from all quarters, the supporters lived up to their reputation for being the best in the world.

Lansdowne Road reverberated that night, with the famed ’roar’ undoubtedly in evidence.

It is on nights such as those that this dilapidated stadium will be remembered, rather than on occasions like this as the calibre of the opposition was hardly conducive to stirring the senses.

This was the last football international to be played at the Dublin ground as work is due to start next year on a 50,000 all-seater venue to be erected in its place.

At least Ireland signed off in style, with the fans having to wait only six minutes for the opening goal.

It was a moment Simoncini will want to forget in a hurry as it was his foul on Doyle that lead to Charlton’s Andy Reid sizing up the free kick.

From 20 yards, Reid’s left-foot curler struck Simoncini on the forehead, with the ball deflecting past wrong-footed goalkeeper Federico Valentini.