Republic of Ireland captain Robbie Keane has rallied his teammates to capitalise on UEFA's decision to expand the number of teams that will qualify for Euro 2016.

Ireland get their qualification campaign underway with a trip to Georgia this evening, with 24 teams poised to progress to the finals as opposed to the usual 16.

Consequently, Keane feels that the Irish have a "good opportunity" to qualify for successive European Championships.

"It's certainly a good opportunity for us," he told reporters. "If you look in the past, the way we have qualified has always been through the play-offs, and of course we would like that to change and finish first.

"That second place is certainly up for grabs and we have to be going into this campaign fairly confident enough that we can qualify for the Euros.

"If we don't believe it, we won't do it. The players have been around for a few years now."

This evening's clash in Tbilisi is scheduled to kick off at 5pm.