"He's back!" screamed Irish headlines on Friday, barely needing to name him.

Roy Keane's return to the national side, one of the most eagerly-awaited events in Irish soccer history, did not disappoint on Thursday, despite his failure to score a goal.

"Roymania 1, Romania 0," crowed the Irish Sun after the Irish saw off the Romanians by a single goal at Dublin's Lansdowne Road. "Joy Keane!" trilled the Irish Star, "Winning Royturn," gushed the Irish Mirror.

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All was forgiven for the mercurial midfielder, who broke fans' hearts twice, first by pulling out on the eve of the 2002 World Cup after a bust-up with former manager Mick McCarthy, and later by quitting the international game.

Despite having bitterly divided the country and driven grown men to tears, the Manchester United captain received a standing ovation from Lansdowne Road's 42,000-strong crowd.

"He was brilliant, delivering a performance of pride, passion and panache that had everything bar a goal," the Irish Mirror said.

While Keane came close to scoring twice on Thursday -- drilling a low shot across the goal in the eighth minute and again hitting a close-range effort early in the second half -- it was fellow midfielder Matt Holland who sealed the Irish victory with a sublime right-foot volley five minutes from time.

Nevertheless, manager Brian Kerr, whose skilful overtures brought Keane back into the fold, was quietly pleased.

"He gave us a bit of presence and changed the play...and I think he showed why we wanted him back in the squad," he said.

The Irish Sun, which put Keane's picture on page one and devoted a further six pages to match analysis, hailed a "brilliant" performance, quoting Romanian boss Anghel Iordanescu's praise of the Cork man as "truly world-class".

"Rumours of Keano's demise have, it appears, been greatly exaggerated," the paper said.

In the broadsheets the prodigal's return was more poetic, a matter of restoring balance to the national psyche.

Keane, "magisterial and stern...still with that spare thunder in his eyes...was saying 'I'm here, let's move on'," said the Irish Independent.

"Back in green. Back in harmony," it added.