Robbie Keane fired himself back on to the goal trail as the Republic of Ireland eased past Andorra 3-1.

The 30-year-old insisted during the run-up to the first competitive game at the Aviva Stadium that he would not dwell on an uncharacteristically unproductive trip to Armenia last week, and he was as good as his word to extend his national record tally to 44 on his 102nd appearance.

Another centurion, Kevin Kilbane, had started the ball rolling with a 14th-minute header, and the Republic were cruising when Kevin Doyle blasted home a superb second five minutes before half-time.

Andorra, who had taken a shock lead on their last visit to the then Lansdowne Road back in 2001, hit back through midfielder Christian Martinez during the dying seconds of the first half to cause consternation in Dublin.

However, Keane restored his side's two-goal advantage within nine minutes of the restart, and it was plain sailing from there.

The margin of victory may not have been wide enough for some among a crowd of 40,283, but six points from a possible six on a night when Group B favourites Russia had earlier lost at home to Slovakia represented mission accomplished.

Afterwards Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni warned his players the hard work starts now after seeing them climb to the top of Euro 2012 qualifying Group B.

Trapattoni said: "We can take confidence now. We have started the campaign and we are top of the table.

"It is not my habit to under-estimate teams like Macedonia, for example, but I think Slovakia and Russia will be our main competition.

"We have six points, like Slovakia, but now we have to look to next month. The competition starts now."