Players' quotes: "Andy Reid, I presume," laughed an observer, pointing at the scrum of tape recorder-wielding post-match-quote seekers, a scrum that made the man at the centre of their attention, all 5ft 7ins of him, disappear from view.

Others, who had played well enough themselves, walked by almost unimpeded, except by the odd straggler whose reach wasn't long enough to get within recording distance of Reid's mouth, and their muscle mass not bulky enough to help them infiltrate the scrum.

Andy Reid was fortunate that he finally found a way out, otherwise he'd still be at Lansdowne Road answering questions about "that" goal by the time Ireland kicked off in Basel.

Andy, Andy, tell us about the goal? A shrug of the shoulders, one that suggested when you have the ball at your feet at the edge of the circle the only thing to do with it is place it in the top left corner of the goal. What else would you be doing with it?

"Eh, I just remember Graham Kavanagh passing to me, remember thinking 'I'll have a go here' - I turned and hit it and luckily it went in. But don't expect goals like that every game," he laughed. "I'm absolutely thrilled how it's going for me. I just got on the ball a lot today and I used it well. Happy enough.

"But the breakthrough goal by Clinton (Morrison) was crucial," he added. "People start to get a little bit agitated when you don't get an early goal, especially when you're dominating. Once we got it we just grew in confidence, kept the ball, worked hard and got our just rewards.

"I suppose in the end the result looked quite comfortable, but it wasn't really an easy game. You have to go about these things the right way, do the right things and you will be rewarded - that's what happened to us. It was a good day at the office for us. It was important to start with a win and that's what we did."

"You'd pay the admission fee just to see a goal like that," said Shay Given of Reid's effort. "He was brilliant for us, his all-round play was just superb, and the goal was special. But it wasn't just Andy. I thought a lot of players played really well. Graham Kavanagh, Kevin Kilbane - they all stood up to be counted. We had a few players missing but it didn't really look like we missed them.

"Three goals, a clean sheet, three points - you couldn't ask for more than that," he said. "We have confidence now going into the Swiss game. Brian (Kerr) says 'four points from the first two games', but there's no reason why we can't get six. We didn't perform the last day in Basel; the real Ireland didn't turn up. We know we can play better and get a result there. It's going to be a tough game, but it's important that we show just how good a team we are."

"A positive start," said John O'Shea, who had been taken off because he "felt a twinge in the front of my thigh muscle". Unfortunately, the injury will see him miss Wednesday's game.

"For the last 15 minutes the crowd wanted us to drive on, but you've got to be professional in that kind of situation, with a big game coming up on Wednesday, so we had to keep it easy."

And what of the man who equalled Niall Quinn's record of 21 goals?

"A special moment for me," said Robbie Keane. "I'd like to dedicate it to my father," he said of Robbie snr, who died last year.

"I was off the pace a little bit, but come Wednesday I'll feel sharper. It was only natural after an injury. It was nice to get back. I didn't think I was going to get back in time for these games. The injury was supposed to be six or seven weeks, so I'm just happy to be here - and to score as well was extra special.

"I'd like to put this record out of sight, so then people would stop asking me about it all the time. It would be nice now to beat the record on Wednesday, but I know that first and foremost comes the result. We go there on a good note and hopefully we can make up for last year's disappointment."