Denmark 0 Rep of Ireland 4:Republic of Ireland captain Robbie Keane grabbed a first half brace to set his side on the way to four-nil win over Denmark in Aarhus this evening. Reading striker Shane Long added another two in the second half to secure Ireland's biggest away win in six years.
Keane's two first-half goals took his Republic tally to 31 and set his side up for perfect preparation for next month's European Championship qualifiers against Slovakia and the Cexech Republic.
After the death of his father during the week Steve Staunton needed a lift from his side and the manager will be extremely pleased with the way his young team controlled large portions of the match against an admittedly poor Danish XI.
The Danes begin brightly and were unlucky not to take an early lead as Nicklas Bendtner was denied by the crossbar after a cross from Dennis Rommedahl.
Ireland got to grips with the game shortly afterwards and began to string some passes together, with youngster Darren Potter looking comfortable in midfield.
The opener came in the 29th minute when Andy Reid found Keane with a well-placed deep pass between Danish defenders and the Spurs striker elegantly chipped the ball past Danish keeper Jesper Christiansen.
The skipper struck again 11 minutes later, when after narrowly missing Aiden McGeady's cross, he was struck by Christiansen's attempted clearance and redirected the ball into the goal.
Long made it three for Ireland after nine minutes of play in the second half, capitalising elegantly when Christiansen gave up a rebound off a long shot from the impressive debutante Darron Gibson.
Long got his second with 23 minutes left on the clock turning on McGeady's cheeky pass on the edge of the box and slotting the ball past the Danish keeper.
The hosts had their moments and Bendtner again struck the woodwork six minutes from fulltime but the Danes were far from the form they must show in coming Euro qualifiers.
The Danes, fourth in their group, travel to Stockholm on September 9th to play group leaders Sweden in a make or break effort to reconnect with the top of Group F. Ireland play Slovakia and the Czech Republic away on September 8t and 12th.
