For a while the problem for this Irish team was keeping their heads up, now they may have difficulty keeping their feet on the ground ahead of much tougher tests in Bratislava and Prague next month.

"It gives us confidence for the few away games," said Liverpool's Steve Finnan. "But they (games against Slovakia and the Czech Republic) count while tonight was basically just a very good workout.

"They're (Denmark) a capable team and, to be honest, we didn't expect to win by that sort of score but we got the goals at the right times and ended up doing very well. To be fair, they had chances too and if they'd scored early on it might have been a different game."

Finnan was quick to point to the performances turned in by the younger and less experienced squad members. "Darren Potter played very, very well and Aiden (McGeady) did well and that's good for the future of Irish football. Having Andy (Reid) back was great too. His pass for the goal was brilliant and he made a big impact over the course of the night."

Though relatively new to many of the squad's members, Potter is a familiar face to Finnan having spent several years at Anfield waiting in vain for his breakthrough to come.

"He was unlucky at Liverpool," observed Finnan. "Then he was getting to the age where he needed to be playing football but we we're seeing now what he's capable of."

Skipper Robbie Keane, who scored two of last night's goals, was delighted to bring a smile to manager Steve Staunton face after a traumatic couple of days following the death of his father, Tom. "I know myself what he is going through," said the Dubliner whose own father passed away in March of 2003, and it isn't nice. "It's good to put a smile back on his face. It won't make up for it but it's nice."

The Republic of Ireland's assistant coach Kevin MacDonald understandably took the post-match media conference in place of Staunton.

MacDonald said: "I'm glad I don't have to make those choices. but that's what you are in management for, and you just have to make sure you make the right choices.

"We are delighted to have won 4-0 away from home, but it might have been different if they hadn't hit the bar and Wayne (Henderson) hadn't made some good saves at 0-0.

"But it is a tremendous boost to go to Slovakia and the Czech Republic with.

If you were marking all the players tonight, they would all have scored seven or above out of 10."

MacDonald paid particular tribute to debutant Darron Gibson. "It was good for Darron, and he did very very well," said MacDonald.

"I don't think it really affected him. He's quite a level-headed young man, and we hope he will keep progressing."

MacDonald went on to hail the contribution of midfielder Reid, who returned to the starting line-up following a lengthy absence with a hamstring strain.

MacDonald added: "Andy had a very good game. He knows himself that he has got great passing ability - but now we have quite a lot of players like Stephen Ireland who can also perform that role."