A Tremendous game, a tremendous performance and, happily, a tremendous result for Mick McCarthy and his players too. Last night's win was as good a result as the Republic have achieved since Jack Charlton departed a couple of years ago and it's difficult to imagine the quality of the performance being surpassed for quite some time to come.

To inflict Yugoslavia's first defeat in this competition was marvellous in itself but with two more crucial qualifiers to come over the next seven days the importance of the way last night's victory was achieved simply can't be overestimated.

It would be foolish to think that because we bagged the three points last night that we can afford to go to Zagreb and lose, but, let's face it, after last night who in the Irish camp is going to be thinking about losing?

Not Robbie Keane for a start. It just seems to get better and better with each passing week for the teenager from Dublin. Last night he was nothing short of superb, playing with a maturity far beyond his years and showing himself to be the equal of some of Europe's most famous players.

Whether he was holding the ball up, running at people or doing what he often did quite brilliantly - playing the simple ball well - he again underlined his potential to become a star of considerable importance on the international stage.

But he wasn't the only one to impress . . . far from it. Through the centre of the team every player did well, with the partnerships in central defence and midfield only fractionally overshadowed by the one up front where both Keane and Niall Quinn were nothing short of superb.

Behind them Mark Kinsella and Roy Keane were the heart and soul of the Irish. Their influence helped to ensure that it was the Irish who always looked to be the side going forward, always the ones who looked to be chasing the win with a good deal of urgency.

Outside them, the gamble of playing with two wingers paid off handsomely for McCarthy. Kevin Kilbane can look back on his role with some pride, but Mark Kennedy - well, after some tough times at club level over the last few years, he deserved a night like last night.

Had Kennedy still been playing reserve team football at club level it's difficult to imagine him having scored a goal like the one he got to win the game for Ireland. But he's playing like that every time he sets foot on a pitch for Manchester City at the moment and the confidence he has been showing at Maine Road was there in abundance again against the Yugoslavs.

And it's important to remember that the Yugoslavs looked a very good side, with plenty of quality players who every now and again during this game threatened to bring the Irish down a peg or two with a flash of inspiration.

Their goal, something quite wonderful out of nothing at all, was typical of what they can be like, and to finish them off after Dejan Stankovic had pulled them level like that is an achievement that shouldn't be underestimated.

They're not out of it by any means, and if the injury to Roy Keane is as serious as it looked when he hobbled off the pitch late in the second half then there will still be some very tough matches to come in Croatia, Malta and Macedonia. But it is important for McCarthy that he sees that there are players throughout the team that are willing to provide the sort of inspiration that we usually find ourselves looking anxiously for the Corkman to provide.

In this game there were certainly players in green jerseys looking to make the running from the very outset. Ireland started well, but to be honest the first half always looked very evenly balanced. Through the opening 15 minutes or so, the Irish probably had the better of it, but there was a little too much possession given away for McCarthy's men to turn the advantage into something concrete.

As the game went on, though, they steadily improved. Out wide it was like the K Club with Mark Kennedy, Kevin Kilbane and even Robbie Keane, getting in plenty of early balls, while inside them Niall Quinn, along with Mark Kinsella who was doing some good running to get up in support, was causing the visiting defence plenty of problems.

Had more been made of the early possession, the Irish might even have edged their way in front over the course of those first 45 minutes. But there were plenty of attempts to play the ball into the 18-yard box, too, and whenever our play began to look any way deliberate, the Yugoslavs had very little difficulty getting men back behind the ball to smother any danger.

At the other end, Alan Kelly had to make a couple of decent saves, and whenever he was called on to do anything he always looked solid. Still, there were one or two moments when the visitors looked capable of really tearing through our back four on the break, and at half time this was a game that looked very evenly balanced indeed.

Which is all the more reason to be impressed with what came afterwards.

(In an interview with Emmet Malone)