Republic of Ireland hero Keith Fahey’s first goal for his country seems to have served as a snapshot of the Birmingham City mans’ attitude to most things he does in football, take them in his stride.

Moving seamlessly from the League of Ireland to the English Championship and gaining promotion to the Premier League in the same calendar year didn’t seem to ruffle the Tallaght native a jot and when asked as to whether or not he had come down from the high of scoring the winning goal in Armenia the 27-year-old casually replied: “Yeah. I just got a good sleep in last night; we were just chilling out last night, winding down.”

Before recalling his pleasant surprise at being the one to secure the victory:”I was a little bit shocked to honest, I haven’t scored since we (Birmingham) got promoted but I don’t usually celebrate goals anyway. ”

Adding: “I seen that their defenders and goalie had kind of drifted over to one side so I just tried to put it in the other corner and keep it out of their way.”

Turning his attentions towards Tuesday’s encounter with Group B’s supposed whipping boys Andorra the midfielder said: “If we get three points then it’s a great start to the group but it will be a tough game, I think all international games are tough. They will probably get men behind the ball and make it tough for us to break them down.”

Clearly high on confidence and ability Fahey was interestingly a part of what was the stronger eleven during Sunday morning’s training game at Gannon Park, Malahide.

Boasting eight of Friday’s starting XI, Fahey looked assured and impressive in his surroundings but read little into the selection: “We haven’t been given any indication at all, that was just a small game of training so you can’t look too much in to it.”

Though he made no secret of his desire to be involved from the off against the Andorrans: “ I started against Argentina because Liam Lawrence was injured and it was a tough game but everyone wants to start, it’s great to be involved but I’m sure the manager will pick the team that he thinks is best for the game.”

The former St. Patrick’s Athletics player is of the opinion that his good form and versatility will be enough to warrant further involvement in Tuesday’s must win encounter: “I know there’s a couple of players out and I think since I’ve come in I’ve done well in training so I’ve as good a chance as anyone of playing. I can play anywhere across the middle so that’s a good thing to have.”

And if Fahey pops up with another goal or two to help Ireland reach the 2012 European Championships then the rest of the country will surely agree.