Ruud van Nistelrooy's words, as he stopped to talk to the press at the Amsterdam Arena on Saturday night, were almost drowned out by the sound of balloons being furiously burst in the background, just as his post-match interview on the pitch had been made inaudible by the boos of the crowd when his face appeared on the big screens.

The same orange balloons, intended to add colour and festivity to Holland's going away "party", had, in the end, almost been reluctantly released from the roof of the stadium as the Dutch players stood in the centre circle, ripped-up match programmes being tossed in their direction from the upper decks by the unimpressed natives.

In short: Ireland had proved to be the party poopers supreme.

"Are you surprised Ireland are not going to Portugal?" Van Nistelrooy was asked. He smiled.

"Well," he shrugged, "if they play like this they should be going to Portugal."

"But I wasn't surprised by Ireland," he added. "We knew what they were capable of, and they showed it tonight. We hold our hands up, with that performance they deserved their win.

"Whatever excuses we can make, we deserved to lose this game - Robbie (Keane) hit the crossbar and (Edwin) van der Saar made some great saves, it could have been more, so nothing but credit to the Irish men. You can say we trained hard, twice a day, all last week - that's true - but today Ireland were the best team."

Ireland's strengths? "I think Robbie was fantastic, he was the one who made the play. Matt Holland played a great game and (Clinton) Morrison was very good, a handful for our defence. They made it difficult for us. They were playing well from the back as well, holding the ball, not playing long balls, that was good football. Yeah, credit to them."

When Keane emerged from the dressing-room he was quick to play down his contribution to the evening's work, but admitted that his goal was his "best for Ireland".

"It's nice to score against a top team, but to win is the important thing," he said. "We deserved it - it was a great performance by everyone and we had the better chances. It was only a friendly but the result was fantastic. We're without 10 or 12 players so to come here and get this result is brilliant.

"We played very well and I think we were the better side. It was a great occasion, great atmosphere and a great ground. It will help us for the France and Switzerland games because being able to get results like that is great. And the Irish crowd was magnificent, it felt like we were at home."

Graham Barrett, another of the relative newcomers to shine, was similarly pleased. "It was brilliant and without a doubt the highlight of my career so far. It was a wonderful experience to be involved in a game like that, it's been a fantastic experience and I want more of it."

"I hope that I can now keep my place in the squad and develop from there. It's been a great week for me personally, to get my first start, score a goal and get three caps. I've really enjoyed it and I've been made feel very comfortable. It's a step up from what I'm used to but it's what I want to be involved with."

While Alan Quinn was talking about the game his manager was back in the press centre expressing bewilderment that the midfielder was stuck in English second division football last season. But, with a move across Sheffield, from Wednesday to United, all but finalised, Quinn will, at least, be playing at a higher level next season.

"It's all finished on a high for me," said Quinn, "and I think things are sorted on the club front too. I'm buzzing, over the moon, it was a great result. It all went by pretty quickly, but I enjoyed it. Coming up against players like (Wesley) Sneijder, (Rafael) van der Vaart and (Clarence) Seedorf, it's great to be on the same pitch really. They're probably the most recognisable team in the whole of the European Championships, every single one of the squad is a star and to say we matched them is fantastic.

"Brian just said to me to go out there and enjoy myself, that they might be in party mood but not to be bothered by the balloons or any of the rest of it. He said to me not to go mad, 'you and Mattie just sit in there and do your stuff', and that's what I think we did."

"Beating the Dutch in their own back yard will do team morale and confidence no harm whatsoever," said Kenny Cunningham. "There are a lot of smiling faces in the dressing room tonight. To come here, to this Arena, against a side of this quality, with the traditions associated with this national team, and to win the game . . . well, it's a credit to all the players and all the staff. A wonderful night."