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Tuesday June 7, 2011

Robbie Keane Keeps Ireland In The Driving Seat

Ireland's Robbie Keane holds up his fingers to show he has scored 51 international goals (INPHO)

EURO2012 Qualifier: FYR Macedonia 0 Republic of Ireland 2

Robbie Keane's goalscoring streak continued in Skopje on Saturday night when his first-half brace saw off Macedonia and kept the Republic of Ireland level on points with Euro 2012 qualifying Group B table leaders Russia and Slovakia.

Keane's 50th international goal at the National Arena Filip II on eight minutes put Ireland on track and his second, on 37 minutes, flattened the home side's prospects of a recovery.

Macedonia did miss a penalty kick before the break but Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given was seldom troubled in the second half as Ireland completed a professional performance.

Russia's 3-1 victory over Armenia and a narrow win for Slovakia over Andorra earlier in the day meant Ireland needed three points to keep pace at the top of their group with the two co-leaders and Keane gave them the best possible start.

His strike partner Simon Cox fed a pass to the Irish skipper thirty yards out who swivelled and unleashed a shot which took a wicked deflection to loop the ball up and over Martin Bogatinov in the home goal.

The ever-dangerous Macedonia captain Goran Pandev got his first real sight of goal with 13 minutes played as he eluded Stephen Kelly to control Ivan Trickovski's cross into the box only for Shay Given to block his shot with his leg from point-range range.

Cox should have been allowed to double the lead on 15 minutes when Keane returned the favour with a diagonal pass but the assistant's offside flag was raised when television replays clearly showed the West Brom man was not ahead of the last defender when the ball was released.

Ireland managed to survive a scare after 24 minutes when Pandev was bundled over in the box by John O'Shea but German Referee Florian Meyer waved away protests from the hosts' players.

The prolific Keane then gobbled up a woeful short back-pass from Macedonia's Nikolce Noveski on 37 minutes to make it 2-0. Ireland's record goalscorer still had work to do when latching onto the loose ball but needed just one touch before drilling a low shot into the corner.

Macedonia's second penalty claim four minutes before the break got a better hearing when the referee pointed to the spot only for Ivan Trickovski to hammer the result spot-kick off the crossbar.

Pandev had the ball in the net eleven minutes after the break yet it didn't count as the referee spotted a handball by the Inter Milan striker in the process of him gathering a cross and beating Given with a low shot from eight yards.

Given didn't have too much to contend with save for an odd Goran Popov long-rage effort from distance so it was encouraging to see him alive to the threat presented by substitute Mario Gjurovski's 68th minute 30-yard curler which he turned over for a corner.

The Irish did conjure an opening of their own late on as Macedonia sent more men into attack, leaving more space for Ireland to exploit. Aiden McGeady twisted and turned his marker inside out down the left on his way to delivering a cross which Keane connected with first-time only to find Noveski's body in the way of his goal-bound effort.

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