McGeady hails Ireland's 'great start' to Euro 2016 qualifying campaign
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McGeady hails Ireland's 'great start' to Euro 2016 qualifying campaign

AIDEN McGeady hopes his impressive performance in front of goal during last night's 2-1 victory over Georgia is a sign of things to come as Ireland look ahead to their next Euro 2016 qualifier.

The Everton winger scored twice in the encounter in Tbilisi, with a 90th minute strike sealing his side three points and a first competitive win for Martin O'Neill.

"I've played well but still not what I'm capable of. I'm off to a great start, so is the team and hopefully I can build on it," said McGeady.

"I try not to think about it because it took so long before I scored my first goal. I was going into every game thinking, 'I need to score'. It's funny. When you don't think about it, it just happens.

"Obviously I want to score more. I've nearly doubled my goal tally for Ireland tonight. I know I need to score more, especially for Ireland. With Ireland I need to push on."

McGeady scored the opener in the 23rd minute, but Tornike Okriashvili levelled close to half-time when he directed his shot into the top corner. 

In the second half McGeady came close to scoring three times, before he struck from 18 yards to complete his double in the 90th minute.

Martin O'Neill praised McGeady's brilliant display, which kicked off Ireland's Euro qualifying campaign with a victory, after it it seemed like they were heading home with only a draw.

"It was a great win for us - I couldn't be more pleased and the boys are delighted," O'Neill said. "The winner was a stroke of genius from a really gifted footballer.

"We were all questioning his goals ratio for the Republic but he was the only player on the field capable of scoring that goal.

"I thought the game had gone beyond us and the last thing you want to do is to lose the match in the last minute of two but suddenly, there was that genius."

O'Neill is focusing his attentions to the next qualifiers against Gibraltar and World Cup champions Germany next month, and admits that there are areas where Ireland can improve.

"We controlled the game although we didn't make the most of our possession and that's been an age-old problem for the Republic of Ireland," he said.

"We gave away a sloppy goal which put them back in the game.

"There were moments in the second half when we had to defend strongly. It's away from home and other teams have to come here and win matches.

"I'm delighted - we have three points on the board although we can improve."