Players' reaction: A year ago, almost to the day, the Irish players trudged off the pitch in Basel after losing to Switzerland and surrendering their hopes of making it to Euro 2004. A "bad, bad, bad day" was how a miserable David Connolly had described one of the bleaker nights in Irish football, writes Mary Hannigan

While a victory over the Faroe Islands might not, in itself, quite merit the description of a "good, good, good day" for Irish football it did, at least, bring to a conclusion what has been an encouraging revival by this team over the past 12 months.

Naturally, then, the mood of the players emerging from the dressing-room after the game was in dramatically marked contrast to a year ago, and none was happier than Robbie Keane.

"Delighted," he said of becoming the leading Irish goalscorer of all time, having eclipsed Niall Quinn's previous tally of 21 by two. "It's hard to describe how I feel. As a kid, growing up on the streets of Tallaght you always dream of playing for your country. Scoring goals is brilliant, but to break the record is extra special.

"I love scoring goals and I'll just continue doing what I do best," he added. "I'll just to try and score as many goals as I can, who knows where it goes from here, but I'm sure in years to come there'll be another young lad coming through trying to beat my record.

"I thought we did well in the first half, created a lot of chances, put a lot of pressure on them, we played some great football at times," Keane continued.

"Second half we took the foot off the pedal a little bit, but the job was done in the first half. Yeah, it was frustrating at times in the second, we could have scored more, but we're happy enough with the result.

"The result in Paris was tremendous, a great team performance, it was important that we kept it going tonight. Four points from those two games, that's just what we wanted."

Gentleman that he is, Shay Given took a minute to pay tribute to Keane's record-breaking feat. "I'm delighted for him," he said. "I'm sure he will score many more goals for Ireland. He's beaten the record so now he has to keep going as he proved with the second goal."

It was as quiet a night as the Donegal man is likely to experience in an Irish shirt but it took nothing away from the main focus of collecting the three points and with that topping the group.

Next up are Israel away in March, a trip Given has already taken this season with Newcastle United.

"Yeah, I've already been there, a couple of weeks ago, and they have shown how tough they are. You know, there are no easy games and the Faroe Islands showed that tonight.

"We have got three of the toughest games out of the way, especially away in France, so heading into the new year we've got to be happy with being top of the group. We can't complain."

Predictably enough, man of the match Roy Keane was less content with the overall performance, particularly after the break.

"I think we complicated it a little bit in the second half, trying killer passes, when we should have kept possession and tried to open them up," he said. "Maybe a lack of experience there. But, you know, a win's a win, as they say. There's a long way to go, the teams in the group are capable of taking points off each other, early days."

Liam Miller, in his first competitive appearance, seemed relatively content with his display, even dismissing his disastrous shot near the finish, which made it over the south Terrace.

"It was a bit of a shank really, in fairness," he said. "It dropped sweetly and I got a good first touch on it but I didn't steady myself as well as I should have. Unfortunately, I ballooned it."

Miller's introduction to top class international football was smoothed by finding himself playing in front of his Manchester United colleague Roy Keane. An even greater advantage considering the performance of his fellow Corkonian.

"He's world class player. He's a vital part of the team really," said Miller. "If you asked Roy, he'll probably say he done okay but I thought he was brilliant again tonight but that's just the way he is. He is just brilliant every game, the way he sets his stall out.

"They were trying to upset him but he is too professional to let that upset him."

additional reporting by Gavin Cummiskey