When I spoke about this game last week I felt guilty about tipping Holland to win - now I feel even guiltier. Shame on me. I've certainly eaten my words but I've enjoyed every mouthful. This was a simply fantastic performance and result.

Sitting in Germany on Saturday night, where I was working with the BBC, everybody was understandably raving over England's win but I honestly thought that Ireland's performance against Holland comfortably ranked alongside what happened in Munich - absolutely no doubt about it whatsoever.

The last game I saw that would be on a par with this performance was Ireland defeating Italy 1-0 in the 1994 World Cup. For me the enormity of both results is comparable.

You simply cannot praise the management and players highly enough. For me now, regardless of whether they qualify, I think when you compare the players he has at his disposal and the ones Jack Charlton had Mick McCarthy has done better. His man-management has been outstanding.

I always knew we could give anyone a game at home but I just thought the Dutch's better quality would eventually see them through. The key for us and our only hope was for our so-called lesser players to perform above their station and that's precisely what they did, especially the likes of Jason McAteer and Kevin Kilbane.

The credit for that goes to the management off the pitch and Roy Keane on it. He was, quite simply, immense. Apart from his extremely high level of consistency what he does is to drag other players up by their boots and he did that again on Saturday.

For Steve Staunton and Richard Dunne it makes a massive, massive difference to know that the player in front of them is world class and he'll help them do their jobs. They're not the best combination the world and they were a real worry for us but like everybody they stuck to it.

If Keane was a centre forward and we couldn't get service to him you might as well have me playing up there. He's in the heat and the heart of the battle all the time.

Yes, the Dutch had a lot of pressure and, yes, they had a lot of chances but they were reduced to panic in the last 20 minutes. That says something about the lack of mental strength of some of their players but it tells you more about the mental strength of Ireland.

They knew if they scored early they'd probably go on to win the game comfortably and I'm sure the last thing Louis Van Gaal told them was to start at their own tempo, dominate and if they got a goal in the first 20 minutes they could cruise through the other 70 because they'd force Ireland to really come out and play.

But Ireland hung on. Nobody cracked, nobody crumbled, they just got on with it and they deserve enormous credit.

The normal, sane mind of the coach (Van Gaal) just deserted him but that was due as much to the way the Irish just repelled their every move he must have though 'Christ, these fellas won't give in'. So he started thinking, 'right, let's chuck another forward on', so he lost his usual pragmatic approach to the game.

That level of panic filtered though not only to his team but also to Ireland - they're thinking 'they keep throwing players on but they're not getting any closer'. The panic, then, was due in no small part to the heroics of the home side.

I expect Portugal to top the group and get through when they play Cyprus so then it's the vagaries of the play-offs again. Whatever happens there, though, this qualifying campaign in general and Saturday's performance in particular is a quite fantastic achievement.

Twenty-one points from nine games? The Dutch out?

Unbelievable.