Rarely does a goalscorer of such pedigree come along. Robbie Keane is, quite simply, the greatest forward in Ireland's football history.

His tally of 53 goals from 115 caps is bettered by few in the modern game. Only Miroslav Klose will travel to Euro 2012 having notched more international strikes.

At 31, the end of Keane's career is closer than the beginning but he still plunders goals at a prodigious rate. Eight from 10 caps in 2011 show that the captain is still capable of doing the business.


It has been that way since the Tallaght-born striker burst onto the scene in the latter half of the 1990s. Here is a player, the country acknowledged.

He has gone on to fulfil his potential and more. Keane was an integral component in Brian Kerr's under-18 national team which won the European title in 1998. The step up to the senior game was seamless.  

Since his days as a schoolboy player for Crumlin United, Keane was marked out as one to follow. He moved to Wolves at the age of 15, spurning the chance to join boyhood club Liverpool in favour of a better chance of first-team football.

Two seasons later he was on the move. Coventry City paid £6m, a record sum for a teenage player, in 1999 but there he waited for only one term. Bigger and better things awaited. Thirteen-time Serie A champions Inter came calling and Keane was bound for San Siro.

Marcello Lippi, Inter manager at the time, has since said: "At that time at Inter, they had a policy of going for young players and Robbie Keane was the best one that I saw. He had good technique and he was a good striker."

His Italian adventure was not destined to be long or fruitful. Lippi was sacked and replaced by Marco Tardelli, who rated Keane as unworthy of a slot in his preferred squads. Tardelli now works with Keane on a regular basis as Giovanni Trapattoni's right hand man in the Ireland set-up.

A move, on loan, to Leeds United materialised and they were persuaded to pay £12m for him once his ability in front of goal was established. From there, Keane moved to Tottenham Hotspur, where he settled and forged a career as one of the most potent Premier League era attackers. Indeed, at present, only 10 players have scored more than Keane's total of 126 Premier League goals. Most of those came at Spurs.

Keane eventually signed for Liverpool 15 years after turning them down. He moved to Anfield in a dream £20m move in 2008. He failed to impress Rafa Benitez on Merseyside and was moved on, back to Spurs, only months later.

His stock had fallen there too and he endured loan spells at Celtic and West Ham before moving to MLS with LA Galaxy last year. He's clearly winding things down on the club front but remains an irreplaceable member of Ireland's squad.

At Euro 2012, he has another chance to showcase his striking prowess in front of a global audience. He has inspired, no doubt, an entire generation in Ireland and the true value of Keane to his country will not be accurately measured until he is no longer around to score goals.

"Someone was asking is he now going to be up there with the top players, the (Liam) Bradys, the (Paul) McGraths. I think there is no doubt that he is," team-mate and fellow striker Kevin Doyle said.