The Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy hailed his side after they wrote themselves into Irish football legend.
The heroes in green booked their place in the second round of the World Cup with a 3-0 win over Saudi Arabia. The result is the first one in which Ireland have scored more than one goal in a World Cup finals game.
The goals came Robbie Keane, Gary Breen and Damien Duff and the result sent Ireland through along with Germany, who defeated Cameroon 2-0.
The Ireland team is now likely to face the winners of Group B - probably Spain - in Suwon on Sunday.
McCarthy was delighted after Keane gave them a dream start with his seventh-minute goal.
The manager said: "It's something we worked on - getting in behind them. [Saudi Arabia] played well in the first half but in the second half I thought we were excellent.
"It was a big game and it's great to go through. The lads responded really well. Everyone has been telling us all week what a big game it was.
"You want to try sitting in that dug-out when your backside's on the bacon slicer!"
The former Manchester City defender was pleased with his team's performance in the first half but he was visibly more nervous in the second half.
He said: "We played very well in the second half but first half after getting a great start we were very nervous. This was a big game for us.
"I think there was frustration on the pitch and off the pitch. We started to try and chase it and get that other goal.
"After we had a chat at half-time and made ourselves solid then we had a base to build on."
"We tried to chase the game earlier than we should have done. I thought we had to settle as a win would get us through and as it turned out that would have been enough."
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