Australia's goal scoring hero Tim Cahill hopes he can take his recent form into the upcoming English Premier League season. The Everton star netted another double for the Socceroos, this time against the Republic of Ireland in last night's 3-0 friendly win in Limerick, and is keen to repeat the dose when the domestic season opens up.

"I've made it an objective of mine to be as fit as possible, to be sharp, to make sure that I stake my claim and to play hard," Cahill said. Cahill was proud of his teammates for putting in such a good performance, knowing they all had to be right for club duties this weekend.

"It's very difficult with a Premier League game at the weekend, but the way the boys applied themselves at training and the professionalism of all the staff and the manager doing the hard work, overall it's a great result," Cahill added.

"It tells us that we've got great depth in the squad, it tells us that we're sharp and taking it really seriously.

"It's our first game outside Asia for a while, a lot of massive players playing for Ireland."