Publications
Partners
Dublin - Robbie Keane scored a hat-trick as the Republic of Ireland made easy work of beating minnows Gibraltar 7-0 in a Euro 2016 qualifier at Dublin's Lansdowne Road on Saturday.
Victory saw the Republic make it two wins from two in Group D although the contrast between this match and their next qualifier, away to world champions Germany on Tuesday, could scarcely be greater.
"It was nice to get the early goal in the game," Republic manager Martin O'Neill told Sky Sports.
"I thought we got a little sloppy in the last 20 minutes of the game but outside of that I am very, very pleased.
"We have not got any serious injuries, just a couple of knocks and bruises, now we can concentrate on Germany."
For Gibraltar, European football governing body UEFA's 54th and youngest member nation, it was their second straight 7-0 drubbing after they went down by the same scoreline against Poland in their first competitive match last month.
Given Keane's quickfire treble put the Irish 3-0 up inside 18 minutes, against a side with just two full-time players, Gibraltar did relatively well to avoid a double-figure defeat.
"It is disappointing but we are all learning and eventually we will get there," said Gibraltar manager Allen Bula.
"Look at all the stats of other teams when they joined UEFA, they lost 6-0, 7-0. Everyone has taken a beating, and we will learn."
Gibraltar, with a population of fewer than 30 000 people and just 600 registered footballers, were not expected to offer much in the way of resistance but did at least keep the score to 3-0 before half-time.
However, the floodgates opened after the break as James McClean scored twice, Gibraltar keeper Jordan Perez put through his own net and Wes Hoolahan made it 7-0 before the hour mark.
It took the Republic just six minutes to score their first goal when Hoolahan played in Aiden McGeady behind left-back Joseph Chipolina and his square ball set up Keane to strike his 63rd international goal.
McClean then saw a shot well-saved by Perez but the second goal was not long in coming, when Keane ran on to Hoolahan's pass to make it 2-0 against a static defence.
Keane then scored his third goal in 12 minutes with a penalty after the hard-pressed Perez tripped Hoolahan.
Unsurprisingly, some of the Republic's initial urgency waned at this point, although Perez made a fine fingertip save to keep out McGeady's powerfully-struck shot and leave the score 3-0 at half-time.
But within 60 seconds of the re-start, the Irish had their fourth goal, with the 34-year-old Keane, now playing for the LA Galaxy, squaring to Wigan's McClean, who duly tapped in.
Gibraltar, struggling to adjust to the pace of international football, were 5-0 down in the 51st minute with a goal that summed up their performance.
Keane tried to lob Perez but the keeper got a hand to the ball. Hoolahan's follow-up was blocked by Scott Wiseman but Perez then inadvertently deflected the ball into his own net.
McClean, after more good work by Keane, made it 6-0 with a 53rd minute tap-in.
Minutes later it was 7-0 when, after McGeady and Keane combined in the build-up, Norwich midfielder Hoolahan strolled past a couple of attempted challenges before shooting from close range.
Republic of Ireland goalkeeper David Forde had been a virtual spectator for most of the match but he then made an impressive save to deny Gibraltar a consolation goal when he turned Roy Chipolina's powerful header over the crossbar.
Now the only question was whether Ireland - with Keane having been substituted to make sure he was not injured ahead of the Germany clash - would equal their record 8-0 victory against Malta in a 1984 European Championship qualifier.
But the fact they did not match that feat was little consolation for Gibraltar.
Euro 2016 qualifying results on Saturday:
Group D
At Dublin
Republic of Ireland 7 (Keane 6, 14, 18-pen, McClean 46, 53, J. Perez 52-og, Hoolahan 56) Gibraltar 0
At Glasgow, Scotland
Scotland 1 (Khubutia 28-og) Georgia 0
Group F
At Bucharest
Romania 1 (Rusescu 45) Hungary 1 (Dzsudzsak 82)
Group I
At Yerevan
Armenia 1 (Arzumanyan 73) Serbia 1 (Z. Tosic 90)
Playing later -- 1845GMT
Group D
At Warsaw
Poland v Germany
Group F
At Helsinki
Finland v Greece
At Belfast
Northern Ireland v Faroe Islands
Group I
At Elbasan, Albania
Albania v Denmark
Played Friday
Group A
At Riga
Latvia 0 Iceland 3 (G. Sigurdsson 66, A. Gunnarsson 77, Gislason 90)
At Amsterdam
Netherlands 3 (Huntelaar 62, Afellay 82, van Persie 89-pen) Kazakhstan 1 (Abdulin 17)
At Istanbul
Turkey 1 (Umut Bulut 8) Czech Republic 2 (Sivok 15, Dockal 58)
Group B
At Brussels
Belgium 6 (De Bruyne 31-pen, 34, Chadli 37, Origi 59, Mertens 65, 68) Andorra 0
At Nicosia
Cyprus 1 (Makridis 67) Israel 2 (Damari 38, Ben Haim 45)
At Cardiff
Wales 0 Bosnia and Hercegovina 0
Group H
At Sofia
Bulgaria 0 Croatia 1 (Olic 36)
At Palermo, Italy
Italy 2 (Chiellini 44, 82) Azerbaijan 1 (Chiellini 77-og)
At Ta'Qali, Malta
Malta 0 Norway 3 (Daehli 22, King 26, 49)
Played Thursday
Group C
At Borisov, Belarus
Belarus 0 Ukraine 2 (Martynovich 82-og, Sydorchuk 90+3)
At Skopje
Macedonia 3 (Trajkovski 20, Jahovic 66-pen, Abdurahim 90+2) Luxembourg 2 (Bensi 39, Turpel 44)
At Zilina, Slovakia
Slovakia 2 (Kucka 17, Stoch 87) Spain 1 (Paco Alcacer 82)
Group E
At London
England 5 (Jagielka 25, Rooney 43-pen, Welbeck 49, Townsend 72, Della Valle 78-og) San Marino 0
At Vilnius
Lithuania 1 (Mikoliunas 76) Estonia 0
At Maribor, Slovenia
Slovenia 1 (Novakovic 79-pen) Switzerland 0
Group G
At Vaduz
Liechtenstein 0 Montenegro 0
At Chisinau
Moldova 1 (Dedov 27-pen) Austria 2 (Alaba 12-pen, Janko 51)
At Solna, Sweden
Sweden 1 (Toivonen 49) Russia 1 (Kokorin 10)
Sunday, October 12 (Kick-offs GMT)
Group C
At Lviv, Ukraine (1600 GMT)
Ukraine v Macedonia
At Borisov, Belarus
Belarus v Slovakia
At Luxembourg
Luxembourg v Spain
Group E
At Tallinn (1600 GMT)
Estonia v England
At Vilnius
Lithuania v Slovenia
Group G
At Vienna (1600 GMT)
Austria v Montenegro
At Moscow (1600 GMT)
Russia v Moldova
At Solna, Sweden
Sweden v Liechtenstein
Monday, October 13
Group A
At Astana (1600 GMT)
Kazakhstan v Czech Republic
At Reykjavik
Iceland v Netherlands
At Riga
Latvia v Turkey
Group B
At Andorra la Vella
Andorra v Israel
At Zenica, Bosnia and Hercegovina
Bosnia and Hercegovina v Belgium
At Cardiff
Wales v Cyprus
Group H
At Osijek, Croatia
Croatia v Azerbaijan
At Ta'Qali, Malta
Malta v Italy
At Oslo
Norway v Bulgaria
Tuesday, October 14
Group D
At Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Germany v Republic of Ireland
At Warsaw
Poland v Scotland
At Faro, Portugal
Gibraltar v Georgia
Group E
At Serravalle, San Marino
San Marino v Switzerland
Group F
At Torshavn, Faroe Islands
Faroe Islands v Hungary
At Helsinki
Finland v Romania
At Piraeus, Greece
Greece v Northern Ireland
Group I
At Copenhagen
Denmark v Portugal
At Belgrade
Serbia v Albania
