Robbie Keane targets more Irish caps

Robbie Keane will win a record 126th Republic of Ireland cap tonight confident he still has another five or six years in his legs.

The 32-year-old striker will add the title of his country’s most-capped player to that of its record goalscorer when he passes the 125-mark he shared with Shay Given for less than a week in the World Cup qualifier against the Faroe Islands.

However, he has no intention of resting on his laurels as he contemplates several more seasons at the coalface.

Keane said: “I’m certainly enjoying it because you have to enjoy it. I love doing it, I love training every day.

“When you get older, your desire and your hunger are even more so because even though I don’t feel I am coming to the end – because I am not, I still have at least another five, six years left in me – you know you are not that young lad anymore where you are not too worried about the future because you feel like you can go on forever.

“People forget I am 32 years of age, it’s not like I’m 34 or 36. People talk about it because I’ve been around for so long.

“For me, I’ve certainly got no intentions at all (of retiring) at this moment in time. I’ll retire when I stop scoring goals.” For all tonight will be a proud occasion for Keane and his family – his four-year-old son Robert will be mascot – he is focusing only on the quest for three points.

He said: “It’s a big occasion for myself, but I think more so for the family.

“They are the ones who are speaking about it all the time and are very, very excited about it whereas for me, the most important thing is playing the game and getting a result for the team.”