IRELAND MIDFIELDER STEPHEN Quinn said he was not surprised by the manager’s decision to drop Robbie Keane and emphasised that the players respected the manager’s decision.

“I wasn’t really surprised. Robbie’s done a shift in Germany and played a lot of football with the Galaxy recently.

“We all just respected the manager’s decision.”

Quinn also partially blamed the pitch for the poor quality of football on show tonight.

“It got a bit intense. The pitch wasn’t great, so it was always turning into a scrappy affair and unfortunately they nicked it.”

Meanwhile, Richard Keogh — who impressed at centre-back in what was his competitive debut tonight — said the side were far from demoralised despite the disappointing defeat.

“Confidence is still high, it was a blip and there are going to be bumps on the road in this group and we’ve just got to bounce back.

“It was a proud moment [to play] and I think I grew into the game. What an atmosphere and what a game it was to come into.

“I was disappointed with the result and the way we conceded the goal, but overall I was pleased with my performance.”

‘If the manager wants to play one up-front, I’m not f**king Niall Quinn and I’m not Shane Long’>

Roy Keane fixed the ref with one serious death stare this evening>