Saturday 28 March 2015 13:22, UK
Republic of Ireland captain Robbie Keane believes home form will prove the key to qualifying for the European Championship finals next summer.
Ireland currently have seven points from four matches in Group D to sit alongside Germany and Scotland, three points behind leaders Poland.
The Poles are next up for the Irish at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Sunday evening as Martin O’Neill’s side look to bounce back from their 1-0 defeat to Scotland in Glasgow in their last European Qualifier.
They had previously won in Georgia and thrashed Gibraltar at home before securing a valuable 1-1 away draw with group favourites Germany.
We have four games out of the next five at home so it’s important that we certainly get the majority of them points.
Despite that latter result Keane still expects world champions Germany to win the group with Ireland, Scotland and Poland battling it out for second place.
Sunday’s game against Poland could therefore be crucial, with home games against Scotland, Georgia and Germany also still to come for the Republic.
Keane told Sky Sports News HQ: “We were doing well up to the Scottish game - getting a great result against Germany - and obviously it was disappointing against Scotland.
“So it probably will come down to us (Ireland, Poland and Scotland) unless Germany have a nightmare from now until the last game, which I doubt.
“But we have four games out of the next five at home so it’s important that we certainly get the majority of them points.”
Keane was left on the bench for the defeat to Scotland, but insists he had no problem with O’Neill’s decision.
“It didn’t hurt because I didn’t start,” he said.
“If this had have been six years ago you’d have probably got a different reaction out of me. But as a captain, and as the leader of the team, it’s very important for the other players to see how you react to something like that and sometimes your pride has to go out of the window a little bit.”
Watch Republic of Ireland v Poland, Sunday 7.30pm, live on Sky Sports 5
