Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Keiren Westwood was delighted to play his part in the 2-1 win over Macedonia at the Aviva Stadium.

Giovanni Trapattoni’s men raced into a 2-0 lead within 21 minutes at the Aviva Stadium as Aiden McGeady’s first senior international goal and Robbie Keane’s 46th took full advantage of blunders from Macedonia goalkeeper Edin Nuredinovski.

However, Ivan Trickovski pulled one back on the stroke of half-time and then forced Westwood into a fine 75th-minute save as the visitors battled valiantly in search of an equaliser.

Asked about the importance of the win, Westwood said: “It’s massive. We’ve got a lot of key players out but we worked hard and I thought we deserved it.

“I’m just happy to be involved. Sometimes you don’t really want to touch the ball but I was delighted to make the save and happy to have contributed.”

Westwood, who was making his competitive debut and deputising for the injured Shay Given added: “I’m very proud and honoured. Shay’s been great (to me) since day one. I was only 23 when I got into the squad and he’s been brilliant for me. He’s dominated this position and he’s a legend.”

Damien Duff admitted they had been made to work hard for the win, adding: “I was maybe cramping after an hour, that shows what a shift we had to put in.

“There are no easy games in Europe anymore. Macedonia put up a great fight but it’s a massive three points.”

The result leaves the Ireland level on points with Slovakia and Russia, who were held to a 0-0 draw in Armenia today.

Duff added: “We knew the Russia result coming in so that gave us a little lift.

“We believe we can do it. We went close to the last World Cup and we’re going to put in a big effort to get to Ukraine and Poland.

“We have to make this (Aviva Stadium) a fortress like Lansdowne Road used to be and this result goes a long way to that.”