Keane goes on Dublin goal blitz

Dublin City 1 Leeds Utd 6

Dublin City 1 Leeds Utd 6

Robbie Keane returned home tonight and celebrated with four goals as Leeds coasted to a comfortable victory at Tolka Park.

The 8,000 Dublin crowd had to wait 23 minutes for Keane's opener, which came after good work from Mark Viduka and Lee Bowyer.

Keane had the simple task of shooting home from close range giving Paul Flood in the Dublin goal no chance.

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A cross from Gary Kelly on 33 minutes enabled Bowyer to stretch Leeds' lead as he slid the ball home at the far post.

Bowyer nearly grabbed another shortly afterwards after some tricky work by Harry Kewell on the Leeds but the midfielder's shot was brilliantly pushed out by Flood.

However, Keane reacted quickest, producing an acrobatic bicycle kick to fire the rebound into the roof of the net. Then seconds before the interval Leeds grabbed their fourth.

This time a Bowyer corner on the right was partly headed home by Irish defender Ian Harte.

When Bowyer was taken down inside the box by Clive Delaney, Keane made no mistake with his spot kick for his third goal of the evening shortly after the interval.

And the former Inter Milan front-man was still hungry for more, skipping past two defenders and calmly shooting into the corner of the net 15 minutes from time.

The Dublin side did manage a consolation goal on 79 minutes when Richie Foran shot home from 30 yards with a rocket effort that gave substitute keeper Danny Milosevic no chance.

But on this evidence, Leeds boss David O'Leary will find it difficult to leave Keane out of his starting line-up for the Elland Road outfit's Premiership opener against Southampton on August 18. - PA