The Irish were well on top at Hampden

New Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr declared himself satisfied with his first outing after watching his men ease past Scotland at Hampden.

Early goals from Kevin Kilbane and Clinton Morrison steered the Irish to victory against the hapless Scots and Kerr saw a well-organised and muscular performance from the Irish.

"We were always in control after we scored," beamed Kerr, who has spent most of the week dealing with questions concerning former Republic captain Roy Keane's decision to the international scene.

"It gave us something to hold on to," he explained to BBC Scotland.

"At times we perhaps sat back a bit more than I would have wanted.

"But in the second half we were good and disciplined and we made a couple more chances.

"It always nice to get another goal and make it more comfortable but 2-0 was a very decent result for us."

The Irish have lost the opening two matches in qualification for Euro 2004 - to Russia and Switzerland - and Kerr knows the win in Glasgow will have boosted morale ahead of the next games in Georgia and Albania.

We had a good shape about us and everyone gave their all Brian Kerr Republic manager

"It doesn't get us any points but everyone will go into those matches feeling better about themselves," Kerr continued.

"This is a little platform for those tough games and we still have a lot of work ahead of us.

"The uncertainty about who was going to replace Mick (McCarthy) went on a long time and I think the players are pleased that it's all been sorted out.

"Chris Hughton, Pat Bonner and myself all worked really hard this week.

"We had a good shape about us and everyone gave their all for the team to acheive the result we wanted.

"I thought Scotland caused us a few problems and had us pinned back for a spell at the end of the first half and they played some neat and tidy football.

"They were probabaly a bit disappointed by their defending at the two goals we scored."