Republic boss Martin O'Neill satisfied after win over Oman

Kevin Doyle celebrates after scoring the opener against Oman

Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill was pleased with his team's 2-0 win over Oman.

The Aviva Stadium friendly was the final warm-up game ahead of Sunday's opening European Championship qualifier against Georgia in Tbilisi.

"I thought beforehand that we would need the game, and I think it was proved," said O'Neill.

"It's nice to win - there's plenty of improvement needed but it was just nice to win and for things to work out."

Goals from Kevin Doyle and Alex Pearce secured the win in front of just 14,376 fans in Dublin.

O'Neill added: "We had a chance to look at Darron Gibson and Robbie Brady, who I hadn't seen play for us.

"I obviously haven't seen much of Darron at all in the last couple of years, so I thought the game was needed."

Republic boss Martin O'Neill watches his team ease to victory in the Dublin friendly

Gibson, returning from a serious knee injury, played for 70 minutes before being replaced by Glenn Whelan moments after picking up a booking for a challenge on Eid Al-Farsi.

There was also a 126th senior cap for keeper Shay Given more than two years after he announced his retirement from international football.

Whether either player is involved in Tbilisi remains to be seen with O'Neill having kept most of his key players in reserve.

However, O'Neill's wait to play the first competitive game since he was appointed as Giovanni Trapattoni's successor in November last year is almost over, and he admits he cannot wait to get started.

O'Neill said: "It's been a long, long time, a really long period. I remember sitting here in November after the match against Latvia and maybe thinking this day would never come around.

"It's here upon us, we have got the whole campaign starting off on Sunday.

"I'm just having a look at the fixture list here, where we have got a host of away games, then we have got some matches at home, and it will be a long road."