John O'Shea believes Robbie Keane's goalscoring record for the Republic of Ireland will never be beaten.
Defender can't see anyone overtaking 51-goal tally
Republic of Ireland defender John O'Shea believes compatriot Robbie Keane's goalscoring record will never be beaten.
Keane is the Republic's all-time leading scorer and passed the 50-goal milestone with a brace in a 2-0 win against Macedonia on Saturday.
The Tottenham striker broke the previous record of 21, which was held by Niall Quinn, in 2004 and has since more than doubled that tally with 51 goals in 108 caps.
And Manchester United player O'Shea, himself a Republic stalwart with 69 caps, doubts that record will ever be matched, while pointing out Keane is still only 30.
"He's been an amazing striker for Ireland," O'Shea told
Sky Sports News.
"He going to set a target that I don't think anyone will ever reach and he's got plenty more years left in him yet."
Qualification
O'Shea played in Saturday's win in Skopje, which keeps Giovanni Trapattoni's men in the hunt for automatic qualification for the 2012 European Championship.
The Republic are one of three teams tied on 13 points at the top of Group B, with fellow frontrunners Slovakia and Russia awaiting in September.
O'Shea said: "With the break in between the next two games, if we had lost or drawn last night it would have been a huge dampener.
"Now we have a couple of months to enjoy this result and look forward to the next two games - Slovakia at home and Russia away.
"That'll tell us whether we have a chance of winning the group and qualifying automatically.
"If we can beat Slovakia at home we'll go to Russia with a lot of confidence and then you never know."
