Keane praises McCarthy and Long after stellar performances

Robbie Keane could do nothing but pour praise onto team mates James McCarthy and Shane Long after the duo's outstanding displays in Ireland's 1-0 win against Germany on Thursday night.

Long was introduced after 65 minutes and within four minutes on the field of play rifled a blistering effort past a stunned Manuel Neuer to fire Ireland to victory over the World champions.

The win means Ireland have now guaranteed at the very least third spot and a play-off place in Group D, but the result also means that another win over Poland on Sunday in Warsaw would see Ireland qualify automatically for EURO 2016 next summer.

“It was a great finish. The first touch helped him,” Keane said post-game on Long's winning goal.

“As soon as you get that out of your feet and you can see the whole goal and then can get good pace. And as soon as he hit it the goalkeeper dived (too late) – that's how much power was in it.”

Long has often been considered one of Ireland's top striking talents, with the forward already scoring five goals for club Southampton so far this season already.

However his goal scoring record for his country as well as his conversion rate in one-on-one situations have often gone under extreme scrutiny and has subsequently seen him fall out of favour under Martin O'Neill's tenour.

But Keane, with 67 international goals to his name, insists that Long is overdue praise and that he, like his team mates, has had to wait for his opportunity to prove himself and that he delivered on that promise on Thursday night.

“Shane would have been disappointed (not to have started). But we're all part of a team and we're all part of a squad. Everybody will get their chance at some stage. Shane got his tonight when he came on and he took it. And that's about being a part of a team.”

The Ireland skipper was also in high praise of midfielder James McCarthy for his commanding and imposing display on a German midfield featuring the likes of Ilkay Gundogan, Mesut Ozil, Toni Kroos and Mario Gotze on the night.

“James McCarthy showed great character, I thought it was one of the best games he's played in the green jersey. I think he typified the performance in the way he was harassing people, stopping them from playing.

“Of course we knew that they were going to play at times but (James) was in good, important positions at those times which was very important for the team.”

Keane noted an out of character performance from Joachim Loew's side on the night, given Die Mannschaft's five game winning streak since their draw with Ireland in Gelsenkirchen in October of last year.

“I think when we got the goal and even in the first half we sensed that they weren't playing the free-flowing football that they have been even though they got a couple of chances”, he added.

“But Germany are always going to get chances no matter who they play against because they're the best team in the world.

“I think we limited them certainly just to chances that they're used to getting. But when they're missing chances like that, with someone like Thomas Muller, you start to believe that this could be your night.”

Keane says that the win can only be given its rightful context as one of the greatest nights in Irish football if Sunday night's game in Warsaw goes to plan.

“We'll have to think about that after Sunday's game. If we qualify automatically it's certainly up there. It doesn't matter who's playing or not, it's about the nation, it's about everyone pulling together and about everybody trying to achieve one goal – and that's to qualify for France.”