Where did that second-half performance come from? It looked like we were dead and buried at half-time and I really doubted we could get back into the game, but whatever the manager said to them - maybe he told them a few home truths - made the difference. Cameroon were in complete control of the game in the first half, in the second the reverse was true, Ireland took over. Fantastic comeback, fantastic result.

We were shackled in the first half - it was almost as if we were afraid to be beaten. We didn't make many tackles, we didn't close people down, our passing wasn't particularly good, we looked like we were waiting for Cameroon to do something, which is exactly what they did. If you look at all our best performances, they've come when we've really confronted teams, we didn't do that in the first half.

Matt Holland and Mark Kinsella were just functional in that period - they worked extremely hard but never really got forward, never really played any decent balls forward, they were almost peripheral to the game. All of a sudden, in the second half, they started to get the ball down and they just went for it.

The attitude seemed to be "come on, let's go for it, we might as well try to get something from the game, even if we risking conceding again". That's what they did and then they got a bit of a confidence. Suddenly, Kevin Kilbane, who had been anonymous in the first half, started to make runs, and Damien Duff and Robbie Keane started going past people - then we looked like the team that we know. The belief just came flooding back.

Duff and Keane had no service in the first half, they were like two lepers, but they started to get ball to their feet and once they got a touch they got a bit of confidence - Duff was coming off people, turning them and running at them and Robbie's swagger was back. Brilliant piece of skill when he hit the post, instant first touch and he whipped it. The great thing about them in the second half was that not only did they both play very well as individuals, they also they looked like a partnership.

Being 1-0 down made up Mick McCarthy's mind at half-time, he knew exactly what to say: "This is the World Cup, none us might be here again - are you going to let that first 45 minutes continue into 90 or are we going to show these fellas we can play?" And to man they did. Maybe if it had been 0-0 we wouldn't have seen the second-half performance we did because I think Mick would have just told them to be careful, to keep it tight - at 1-0 down his team talk was probably made for him.

At that point all you can say is "are we going to throw it all away, two years trying to qualify, all the fantastic results - let's get out there are start playing. Let's get hold of the ball, let's start to get forward." Basically, we were a non-event in the first half and they well deserved their lead.

We know Gary Breen and Steve Staunton lack pace - and they were exposed on a number of occasions - but they weren't particularly well protected by anyone else. As far as Breen is concerned, I think there's a mistake in there in every game, I'm always convinced about that, that's why I would have played Kenny Cunningham - but Mick played Breen and we got away with it a little bit. I think Steve Finnan's a better full back than Gary Kelly, too, although Kelly's got bundles of energy and gets up and down all day. Finnan made a difference when he came on, but no one really played to their potential in the first half.

Cameroon are a good side but there's no doubt about it, they wobbled. They couldn't get possession of the ball in the second half and having been extremely cohesive in the first half - from the back, through the middle, to the front - they became three different parts, and those parts can't function without each other. They started giving the ball away, started trying to do difficult things, we kept getting the ball back and because we were playing well, we started to create chances. Of course, the pivotal moment was Geremi's miss, which would have put them two up, but that happens in football all the time, the most important thing is to capitalise, which is what we did.

It's an excellent start - the only cloud on the horizon is the Germans thumping the Saudis by eight, which could yet have a big bearing on our game against the Saudis. I honestly don't believe the Saudis are going to be as bad again, it's probably not possible anyway.

I didn't think they would be as bad as that - this is the team that beat Iran. They mustn't have read the rules of football, they didn't seem to be aware that you are allowed to tackle. If you were scouting that game for Ireland, you would have put your pen in your pocket after 10 minutes, you'd have gone back to Mick McCarthy and told him Germany played a team of absolute no-hopers who didn't tackle - they might have looked like world beaters, but basically they were playing a pub team.

What might make the task a little bit more difficult for us is the fact that the Germans have a bit of confidence now, especially the forwards - Miroslav Klose goes into Wednesday's game with a hat-trick under his belt and Carsten Jancker's goal will have given him some confidence too. It all just means we cannot afford to be beaten by the Germans, that's a given - otherwise Ireland could be out.

But we're upbeat about Wednesday now, we finished on Saturday with a surge, with confidence, finished as the team more likely to win the game. Everybody will tend to forget about the first 45 minutes, which is good from a confidence point of view, but the manager won't. The other good thing about Saturday is that the fella we've been talking about for the past 10 days won't get a mention from now on. Thank God.

In an interview with Mary Hannigan