Robbie Keane scored his 49th international goal to hand the Republic of Ireland the inaugural Carling Nations Cup as they beat Scotland 1-0 in Dublin on Sunday.

The final fixture in the tournament was by no means a classic, with Scotland struggling to find their rhythm until the latter stages, but Keane's 24th minute strike was enough to clinch maximum points for the Republic.

The skipper broke the deadlock with an excellent run from the halfway line after good work from Paul McShane, making his way to the edge of the area and lashing a left-footed shot into the bottom corner.

Scotland had chances, with Kenny Miller and James Forrest missing good opportunities, as well as having a legitimate penalty shout turned down.

But their efforts came too little, too late and handed the Republic a deserved victory, allowing them to collect some silverware and confidence heading into their Euro 2012 qualifier against Macedonia.

Keane believes the confidence boost of winning the Carling Nations Cup could prove vital for the team.

"The most important thing, like in any international game, is to get a win and get the confidence up, all you want to do is come into a camp and get that confidence, two wins in a week will do that," he told Sky Sports 1.

Scotland boss Craig Levein thought his side had done enough during the 90 minutes to win the game and the tournament.

"(I feel) a tinge of disappoint of course that we didn't win the match because I thought we genuinely deserved to win," he told Sky Sports 1 "In international football you rarely get chances but we had enough to win."