Two-goal hero Aiden McGeady has said Ireland’s 2-1 win over Georgia will have sent a “big statement” to the other teams in Euro 2016 qualification Group D.
McGeady’s brace, including a 90-minute winner, ensured Martin’s Neill’s men got their qualifying campaign off to a winning start.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport after the game, McGeady said the three points were “massive” but admitted there was room for improvement in Ireland’s performance.
“It sends a big statement to the rest of the teams in the group that we’ve come away to a difficult place, to Georgia, and taken the three points,” McGeady said.
“Obviously our performance probably wasn’t [great.] I wouldn’t say as bad as at Kazakhstan the last start of the qualifying [but although] we played okay, we know we can play a lot better.”
"Credit to the boys, we kept at it, and everyone is absolutely delighted" - Aiden McGeady
McGeady highlighted Ireland’s ability to break down a stubborn Georgian side, who had looked likely to frustrate Ireland after they equalised.
“I think we were the better team overall, but Georgia have some good technical players, and they had a couple half-chances,” he said.
“The [Georgian] goal was out of nothing, that they scored, you know, it’s one of those, when they get a goal back, it’s always difficult to break teams like that down, away from home.
“But we kept going, we had some half-chances, and credit to the boys, we kept at it, and everyone is absolutely delighted.”
On a personal level, McGeady said he was “delighted” with his goals, but stressed that the team winning was the main priority.
“I’m just happy to get a goal for Ireland,” McGeady said. “It was that long coming, to get my first one.
“To win our first game, to start the qualifying, it was a big result for us. I’m obviously delighted to score, but the main thing is that we won.”
His double in Tbilisi in his manager's first competitive game - he also scored in the 62-year-old's first friendly against Latvia in November last year - increased his relatively meagre tally significantly, and the second of them proved priceless.
McGeady was applauded back into the away dressing room after conducting a series of interviews following the final whistle, and admitted he did not know what to do with himself.
He said: "I'd been doing a few interviews outside while the manager was talking to the team about the game. I was a bit awkward when it happened, I didn't know how to react really. It was nice."
Asked about his decisive strike, he added: "The second goal was all about concentrating on my touch. I had my back to the goal, I just thought I'd try something. It came off for me.
"It doesn't happen very often for me, but thankfully it went in."
