Republic of Ireland defender John O'Shea has admitted that he is relieved to have a chance to return to action quickly against the Faroe Islands on Tuesday.

Stand-in captain O'Shea endured a difficult 90 minutes on Friday as Ireland were swept aside by Germany in a humiliating 6-1 defeat.

O'Shea told the Irish Times that while they are still disappointed by their performance against Germany, they must now focus completely on facing the Faroes this week.

The Sunderland defender said: "The Faroes have proven to be very difficult opponents already for other teams in the group but we have to be aiming to at least finish in the playoff place. If you want to do that then you have to be beating these teams.

"Thankfully this game has come around really quickly and we can get three qualifying points towards qualifying for the World Cup.

"Obviously we are still massively disappointed by how it went the other night but hopefully we can move on from it."

Ireland welcome back striker Robbie Keane to the squad to face the Faroes after he was deemed fit enough to travel despite missing the Germany match with an Achilies injury.