Niall Quinn was cast in a familiar role as the improvised Republic of Ireland squad made its way back to base yesterday at the end of a gratifying US Cup programme.

Since scoring his first international goal against Israel in 1987, Quinn has been central to Ireland's struggle to establish themselves among the better footballing nations.

Now, in his 80th international appearance, the point was as valid as ever as he topped off a sharply improved second-half performance with the goal which secured a 2-1 success over South Africa in the Giants Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday. It enabled him to join Frank Stapleton as Ireland's leading scorer on 20 and the plaudits which followed testified to his popularity.

"I'm absolutely delighted for Quinny for in a very real way he identifies what Irish football is all about," said Mick McCarthy. "He's been a huge influence on and off the park since coming into the team all those years ago and the reaction of the other payers after he equalled Frank's record said it all."

Quinn, who was captain on Sunday night which made the occasion all the more special, was clearly moved. "When I came back into the dressing-room the rest of the players stopped and gave me a bit of a clap," he said. "I'm not very often lost for words but I was then. It was a great feeling.

"Other players like John Aldridge and Tony Cascarino got stuck for a long time on the 19-goal mark. I was no different but before the game people were telling me that this was the one that would get me to 20.

"Two things made it extra special for me: the fact that my wife Gillian was there to see it and the way the other players reacted to it.

"Long before we came over, Gillian looked at the fixtures and said that the South African match was the one in which I was most likely to score. And she backed up her faith by travelling over to New York on Friday.

"And then there was the reaction of my team-mates. A full minute after I put the ball in the net and the South Africans were about to kick off for the restart I looked across and Alan Kelly was still jumping out of his seat.

"Alan and I go back a long way, back to the time we were in the Ireland youths team, and he was nearly as happy as I was. In football it can often be a case of dog eat dog, but to score and get a reaction like that was worth more than a million pound move to me."

Now Quinn is off to the Algarve with his family for a short holiday before returning to Ireland for the Munster hurling final. "That's the highlight of my sporting year and the fact that Tipperary are playing Cork this year makes it even more attractive. To be honest, I'd rather watch that than the Augusta Masters.

"We weren't too bright at the start but once we accepted that we couldn't play our normal game in 90 degrees of heat and slowed it down a little we were well in control," he said.

"All the players did their bit but I thought Stephen McPhail had a fabulous game. He was always comfortable on the ball and eventually ended up calling all the shots. I think he's going to be a great player for Ireland."

All in all, it was a satisfactory tour for McCarthy and might have been even better had not the Mexican team officials been guilty of an appalling error of judgment in awarding a blatantly offside goal for the US team at Boston in the second game. In the end that was the difference between finishing second and winning the four nations tournament for the first time. And given the spate of withdrawals it represented a considerable achievement.

Almost certainly, McCarthy had already fixed on his probable World Cup team before coming to the US. That is still the position although McPhail may be close to opening up one of the midfield positions after just a handful of appearances in the green shirt.

Elsewhere, it was a matter of young players pushing for places in the shadow team and in this respect Dominic Foley, Matt Holland and Richard Dunne may have done themselves a lot of favours.