Up close and personal, the aura of confidence swells with each game. Kenny Cunningham leans up against the crash barrier that separates the recently-showered players from the baker's dozen of hacks and rattles off a number of reasons why the Republic's star glows ever brighter.

He names one player after another.

"Mark Kinsella - he's taken to international football like a duck to water. Damien Duff - absolutely exhilarating. People forget he is such a tender age. He is still learning the trade, and it is a daunting task, but he has ten years ahead of him and the best is yet to come; and, then, we have Robbie Keane. You don't have to say any more about him. It's looking very good, isn't it?"

Sure is, but what can you learn from playing a second string team from Paraguay? Roy Keane, whose partnership with Kinsella impresses with each outing, could only look on the bright side. "It was a good performance against a half-decent side," he insists. "These games can turn out to be more difficult than you expect. We didn't give them the chance to impress, and that's important. The other thing we have to remember is that winning breeds confidence."

Indeed, the confidence factor hasn't been much higher in recent times, and Kinsella, for one, was glad to savour it. Playing his second match in three days, the Charlton Athletic man was glad to get away from his club's relegation dog-fight and enjoy playing with "a team that is heading for Europe."

"It was a job well done," said Kinsella. "Okay, so they didn't have their strongest team, but they still had some decent players. Personally, it is great to play alongside someone like Roy. He is prepared to sit back and control things which gives me the license to get forward a bit. I don't have many occasions to do that with Charlton."

Kinsella wasn't too impressed with the pitch. "I've seen it in better condition, but the rugby has probably taken its toll on it at this time of year."

Still, Cunningham was quick to add his praise to Kinsella's increasing contribution to the Irish midfield. "He's up and down the park all the time, and just so consistent. He has been like that all season," claims Cunningham.

If anyone encapsulates the ring of confidence that hovers around the emerging Mick McCarthy side it is Robbie Keane. Denied a clear goal when hacked down in the area in the first-half, he wasn't too bothered about not taking the resulting penalty. "Nah, Denis (Irwin) was always going to take it. I remember Jason McAteer played the ball into me and the other guy just nicked my ankle. The whole 30,000 could see it was a penalty, and the main thing is that we scored.

"The result is the important thing, and it was good preparation for Macedonia next month."

That match with Macedonia brings old memories, but Roy Keane, the skipper, insists there is no bad blood. "This is a totally new campaign, and I don't like to look back. We've no scores to settle. . . we just need a victory." Pragmatic and confident. That's the way it is these days.