'At half-time, I said: I'm definitely going to give you another seven minutes'

Martin O’Neill paid tribute to Robbie Keane as the striker equalled Gerd Muller’s record in his last international game.

IRELAND MANAGER MARTIN O’Neill paid tribute to Robbie Keane after the striker made his final appearance for Ireland against Oman on Wednesday night.

Keane scored his 68th goal for his country to equal German legend Gerd Muller’s record and O’Neill felt it was the perfect end to a stellar international career.

It’s a great end for him. He was obviously quite emotional, really, about it. As he has mentioned in the last couple of days, he has loved playing for the Republic of Ireland and it was a great send-off.

“It was nice of the crowd (27,300 attended the game) to wait around for him at the end, they could have gone home. It was good and he got his goal.

I was originally giving him 20, 25 minutes — I think he looked at me first of all — and then at half-time, I said, ‘I’m definitely going to give you another seven minutes,’ so get another goal to beat his record or you’re off, and he’s off.

“He’s drawn level with Gerd Muller — what a record that is, fantastic. I’ll not see it broken in my lifetime. Even the youngest in the room here won’t see it either.

“It’s been a great effort, a great career and tonight was really about him.”

Keane looked lively and took his goal well this evening, in the process showing the type of intelligent movement and sharpness in the box that has characterised his career.

Does O’Neill feel any sense of regret that he can no longer call on the services of Ireland’s record goalscorer, or is it the right time to go?

Personally speaking, I think it is. Somebody who is the same age as me, I think it is time for him to go!

“He has been exceptional and I think he genuinely wanted to concentrate for the rest of his time on his club career out in America. Whatever sort of designs he has in the aftermath, I’m not sure, but as we mentioned yesterday, if he thinks about coaching and management, I would advise him to try to stay in the game.

But I genuinely think regardless of tonight — he scored the goal tonight and he has taken it brilliantly. And do you know what? I do think that type of goal that he has scored so often in his career I think in three or four years’ time, he could easily be scoring it.

“But I think it is the time for him, genuinely, I think it’s the time for him to go.”

Keane’s goal tonight also meant he continued a remarkable record of having scored in every year for Ireland since making his debut against Czech Republic in 1998.

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The Tallaght native’s departure will consequently leave an enormous void in the Irish set-up, but O’Neill is hopeful that others in the squad will take up the goalscoring mantle.

“Jon Walters can take that up, if anything, if I was Shane Long, I would be thinking, ‘I’d like a part of this, rather than being a scorer of great goals, I’d like to be a really great goalscorer’.

I think he should look at that there and think, ‘Yeah, I have got plenty of time, I’m quick, I have got a lot of things about my game’ and get into the penalty box and try to do what Robbie Keane has done all his career.”

The Irish manager was also pleased to be able to give Walters 90 minutes of football, with the 32-year-old striker having yet to start a Premier League game for Stoke this season, having worked hard all summer on his fitness after tearing his Achilles just prior to Ireland’s participation in Euro 2016.

He did really well, considering he hasn’t had much playing time at club level. You know what I feel about Walters anyway. He’s been massively influential in our time here and played a big, big part in us getting there.

“I think you can see that a properly fit Jon is still a big asset to us. He wasn’t completely right — he wasn’t right, really — in the Euros. He picked up the injury down in Cork in training and played for about 65 minutes against Sweden, but was never really properly fit in the games.