Republic of Ireland defender Seamus Coleman has insisted that the three points are all that matter from his side's 3-1 victory over Moldova this evening.

Martin O'Neill's side made hard work of the 161st-ranked minnows, with Shane Long's early opener being cancelled out by Igor Bugaev before James McClean spared his side's blushes with a second-half brace.

Coleman, who captained the visitors in Chisinau, acknowledged that his side weren't at their best, but was happy to come away with the win.

"I thought we did alright in the game. Just before half time we were very naive to be left isolated at the back like we were. We should have just come in at half time 1-0 up, but we didn't and we made it hard work. I thought we were very sloppy at times with flicks and kicks in the first half but we got it right in the second half. We thought it was going to be a grind - but we broke them down," he told Sky Sports News.

"James got two goals and we've come out of it with three points and that's all that matters. I said earlier in the week, there's no easy games at international level. We didn't perform massively great against Georgia, but they're a decent team.

"They drew at Wales tonight so there's going to be sticky spells in games and we had that for a little bit tonight but we came out the other end and showed our composure and James scored two very calm goals. It's a massive win. We wanted three points and that's what we achieved and that's all that matters."

Republic of Ireland now sit joint top of Group D, level on seven points with Serbia.