It was the end of, perhaps, the Republic's finest qualifying campaign, but there were no champagne corks popping in the players' tunnel on Saturday evening and there was a distinct absence of self-congratulatory chat. Why?

"Well, we've achieved nothing yet," as Shay Given insisted. Add to the mix the uncertainty over the form the play-offs will take, and little wonder the players weren't sure what to say or how to feel.

"We'd have taken this position at the start of the group, and winning 4-0 is a great finish to the campaign. But of course there was a bit of an anti-climax when the Portugal result came through," said Given.

"With them winning 5-0 we'd have had to have won about 12-0 and that's just not possible in international football. Overall we're happy though, we've stopped Holland getting to the World Cup, but it's all about us now, we want to get there badly.

"We don't know if it will be one game or two, but whatever it is we have to get there, we haven't achieved anything yet. If we get there we'll talk about the good things, but not till then."

Would he prefer a play-off over two legs or one?

"Definitely two because every team can have a bad day - if you do, you always have the second game to pull yourselves out of it. On top of that, we won't know much about whoever we play, so the first game would give us a look at them. So I'd definitely prefer two games, but we just don't know, it's up to FIFA."

"We're not shouting from the rooftops yet," said Gary Breen. "We just did a professional job against Cyprus, we got the two goals early on and could have added to them in the first half. We didn't, unfortunately, so it wasn't to be, but we just have to take credit for not losing a game in the whole campaign.

"We're looking good for the play-offs, though, wherever they may be and whoever we play."

Any worries about where they may be?

"There are obvious concerns, but I'm sure FIFA won't put us in any danger. We'll go wherever we have to go and just get on with it, that's our job, we'll leave the rest to the people who make these decisions."

Steve Finnan was a little more forthcoming on his fears about travelling to Asia in the current political climate, but, like his team-mates, said he'd prefer a two-leg play-off, rather than a one-off game played on neutral territory.

"Like anyone I wouldn't really like to travel out there at the moment, but if it came down to one game in a neutral venue it would make it more difficult. Of course there would be some nervousness about going to some of the countries we're likely to end up playing, and, yes, some of the players have spoken about it. But we have to do what we have to do.

"Wherever we go, though, we'll go there with confidence. Twenty-four points out of 30 and we still haven't qualified? It's unbelievable really. But we split Portugal and Holland, which was a fantastic achievement, it's just unfortunate that it wasn't enough to top the group."

Robbie Keane, meanwhile, was perfectly content with his evening on the sidelines, insisting that "Mick did the right thing leaving out the players on yellow cards.

"I had no problem with that," he said, before going on to pay tribute to Niall Quinn's record-breaking evening.

"We were all delighted for him, he's such a smashing, smashing bloke. It wasn't just the players who were thrilled for him, I'm sure the whole country felt the same. I really hope he carries on playing because he's such a great fella to have in the squad, he's always been a great help to me. He's a tremendous player and I love playing with him, so I hope he stays on a good while yet."