Strachan 'mesmerised' by Scots' derby win

• Gordon Strachan compares Scotland's win to "big heavyweight boxing match"
• Martin O'Neill says Ireland looked comfortable despite the derby atmosphere
• For match winner Shaun Maloney, the game was "brillant to be involved in" 
• Ireland's Richard Keogh rues his side's momentary, but costly, lapse in concentration
• Next games: Scotland v Gibraltar, Republic of Ireland v Poland (29 March)

Shaun Maloney, Scotland forward and goalscorer
It was a brilliant match to be involved in. The atmosphere was as good as I remember from playing here on Champions League nights [with Celtic] and that goal was a special moment for me and the team. My mind was made up on the shot as soon as I received the pass from Scott [Brown]. The corner was slightly different to the one we'd worked on in training, but it was a great pass and all I had to do was hit it first time.

It's a great win for us with the way Ireland have started the qualifiers, but you can see there's not much between the teams. I don't think the match was overly pretty at times, it was very physical, but the crowd plays a part on these occasions and they've been brilliant for us since the start of the campaign.

Gordon Strachan, Scotland manager
I said before that there was only one goal deciding all the games, except against Gibraltar. It's happened again. We said set plays would be big and it has happened. As for the football, it wasn't that great. As a spectacle of two groups of players, not one giving an inch, it was mesmerising. They wanted to jump higher, run quicker, tackle harder. And the fans made it an occasion too. We were fortunate to score from a set play.

I was told Georgia is a must-win game, then Poland is a must-win game, then this one is a must-win game. It seems that every game is a must-win. But you never know when it's the big game. This may have been the big game, this may have been a waste of time, you never know.

Considering the height and the power we were playing against, the smaller players like Maloney, [Steven] Naismith and [Ikechi] Anya were very brave. I thought they were very brave on and off the ball. The players did very well. It's brave to play when the ball's flying about, when there are tackles flying everywhere. Charlie [Mulgrew] was immense, absolutely immense. He was the best man.

I put so much into that game – that was like one of the big heavyweight boxing matches. We believe we can play football. We dealt with the physical duel as well. The players trust each other, that's the main thing. If one of them is not having a great night, the one next to him will help him.

Martin O'Neill, Republic of Ireland manager
I thought we'd get a draw – we were comfortable when we conceded on a set piece. It was a frenetic match, stop-start with lots of fouls, like a derby game in many aspects. I thought we were going to get something.

That's us and Scotland with seven points each. Our own fate will depend on what happens in [Dublin]. We've got four of the next five games at home. We've played three away games and we've got seven points; Scotland have joined us now. I still think Germany are the strongest team in the group. It's going to be tough, but we're still there.

I thought the two sides cancelled each other out. We were not in phenomenal danger when the goal occurred. I make the decisions for the good of the team; Robbie [Keane] accepted that [not to start]. Because we were away from home, we wanted to try and stretch them and Shane Long could do that. Scotland didn't get hold of the ball either. It was a frenetic game.

We said it was going to be a derby game, a derby feel, a derby atmosphere. It had all those ingredients. But neither team managed to get hold of the ball. Whether that was because of the atmosphere, because of a little bit of nervousness maybe, I don't know.

We're disappointed because I thought we had opportunities to get something out of the game despite the atmosphere, but we were unable to do so. We've got seven points on the board and we've completed really tough away games. Everything is still to play for. We have to get ourselves together. For March, we have to be ready for Poland. We have to win our home games. We're absolutely still in this.

Richard Keogh, Republic of Ireland defender
It's a tough one to take. We just switched off for a split-second and it was a good finish to take advantage. A draw would have been a fair result, but we'll bounce back and go again. It's a very tight group and we have a great group of players, a great atmosphere in the camp, and I'm sure there will be plenty of twists and turns to come. After a run of tough away games, we have a few coming up at home now and hopefully we can take advantage.