Keith Gillespie has insisted he will keep playing international football for as long as he can after another scintillating display in Northern Ireland's four goal victory over San Marino on Wednesday.

The 33-year-old, who was winning his 85th cap, produced a vintage performance of wing play as Northern Ireland secured their first World Cup victory in Group Three.

"I have been fairly pleased with my game over the past few internationals and it's nice for me to get another 90 minutes under my belt as I haven't played too many games this season," said Gillespie.

"It's really important for me to play for Northern Ireland as I love playing for my country and I want to pick up as many caps as I can before the legs finally give up on me."

Gillespie is currently seeking another club after a public falling out with Sheffield United boss Kevin Blackwell, but he does not believe lack of first-team opportunities at club level are having an adverse affect on his international career.

"I don't think it has been affecting my performances for Northern Ireland," said the former Manchester United player.

"It is up to me to make sure that I maintain my fitness off the pitch as when you are not playing every week it's very important to train hard and stay fit."

The resounding success over the Sammarinese was in the end quite comfortable for Nigel Worthington's men, but for the first 25 minutes they frustrated Northern Ireland and Gillespie admits it was nothing more than he had been expecting.

"We knew that it wouldn't be easy; we studied them beforehand and knew they would get ten men behind the ball, but it's all about using your experience and a bit of guile around the box to break them down," he said.

"For 25 minutes we didn't play that well, but once the goal went in that settled us down a bit and we were able to relax and play a bit better.

"It was important to do a job on Wednesday night, we knew we would have a lot of possession and we had to turn that into goals.

"We did that, it was a little bit disappointing we couldn't have scored a few more as they were there for the taking, but once you go 4-0 up the job's done."

Meanwhile striker Warren Feeney believes the San Marino result will finally kick-start Northern Ireland's World Cup campaign.

"I feel this group is still wide open," declared Feeney, currently on-loan at Dundee United from Cardiff City.

"Just look at the other result's; the Czech's beat Slovenia and Poland lost in Slovakia.

"At this stage of the qualifying tournament everyone thought the Czech's would be sitting pretty at the top of the table, but they have the same points as us, albeit having played a game less.

"We have San Marino up next, which should be another three points, so if we can get into that winning habit again, get winning and the other countries continue to take points off each other then there is no reason why we can't get back on track and get to South Africa."