By Glenn Mason
Aiden McGeady was a relieved man at the Aviva Stadium last night after waiting nearly seven years to score his first goal for the Republic of Ireland.
McGeady, who had won 37 caps since his Ireland debut as a teenager back in June 2004, took less than two minutes to find the net against Macedonia in his 38th appearance in an Ireland shirt.
He said: 'I'm just delighted. Absolutely delighted. People would mention it to me now and again and I would start to think about it myself all the time.
'Games would come and go and there would be chances here and there. I would miss the odd chance or stick one over the bar.
'I think it was in the Norway game, I had a half-chance on the edge of the box and I was thinking; "When will I get a chance like that again?" I'm just delighted to get my first goal tonight.'
The Spartak Moscow winger cared little that Macedonian keeper Edin Nuredinoski pushed the low shot into the net.
'I'll take any goal just now. If he palmed it in, I'll take that,' he beamed. '[Giovanni Trapattoni] feels I've got a decent shot on me when I get the chance to cut in and make space for myself. If you don't shoot, you don't score. That's what he's always on my case about.'
The strike from McGeady and another from captain Robbie Keane, his 46th for his country, put Ireland in a commanding position, but they let Macedonia back into the game just before half-time when Ivan Trichkovski pulled a goal back.
McGeady admitted that Ireland became hesitant in the second half as the visitors began to press forward for an equaliser.
'[The goals] set the tone for the first half, except for the last five minutes, where we took our foot off the gas a bit. We let Macedonia get back in, which was disappointing and we became a bit edgy in the second half. Thankfully we held on for the victory.
'It's a disaster if you are two up and it gets back to 2-2. Obviously, the fans got a bit edgy and the players can get a bit edgy and not play with freedom when it is that type of game.'
Macedonia's improved second half performance was an indication of what Ireland will face when the sides meet in the return fixture in Skopje in June.
'Of course it's going to be difficult,' said McGeady. ' Macedonia are a decent team. It is not one of those games where you think 'ah we should beat them'. It's a difficult team, but we'll see what happens in June.
Hopefully, we on go on a run now … That's three points and we're top of the group. What more can you ask for? We're right in the mix for qualification.'
