Aiden McGeady shows frustration after missing a second-half chance

Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni was relieved after his side had held on to beat Cyprus 1-0 in Wednesday's World Cup qualifier.

Trapattoni felt his team had "lost the initiative" after Robbie Keane's early goal but was delighted with the "heart" they had shown on a tense evening.

"I said yesterday that Cyprus are a strong team and they showed that tonight," said the Republic boss

"Our goalkeeper (Shay Given) made a great save late in the game."

Trapattoni added:"We had two or three good chances (in the second half) for Aiden McGeady, Damien Duff and Robbie Keane."

The Republic manager explained his decision not to make any substitutions until introducing Caleb Folan in the closing seconds at Croke Park.

"I kept the team the same even though two or three players were dead after all the running they had done.

"McGeady and Damien Duff were tired but I felt it would be difficult to make changes because it was such a tight game.

"But we got this very important win and I want to congratulate the players because they played the final minutes with so much heart."

Kevin Doyle, voted man-of-the-match, said the victory was "massive, particularly as Bulgaria drew tonight (in Georgia)".

"We could have got a couple more goals but they could have got one at the other end as well," added the Reading striker.

"It was a very tough game. Maybe when we went ahead we sat back a little bit.

"But they are a very good team. We've seen them playing Italy and they could have won that game three or four nil. We were wary of them."

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