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'We're obviously disappointed we lost the game, particularly in the manner in which we did,' said Keane. 'I don't think it was a free-kick for them in the first place to be honest, but then the ref seemed to give a few things their way, but not for ourselves.
'I don't think I was offside for the goal I scored. Every decision seemed to go against us, but we can't make excuses. We can't blame the referee.
'We played well. We showed passion, commitment, desire and we put in a lot of hard work. If we can do that in the future then we've a great chance. There's certainly a sense of optimism amongst the lads.'
'After Holland we were heavily criticised, so we knew we had to bounce back, and other than the result I think we did that to an extent. The consolation is we've probably got the hardest game out of the way, although there are other teams in this group who will be just as difficult.
'We now need to look to take something from every game, certainly from the next two we need to get something.'
Newcastle goalkeeper and Ireland vice-captain Given made two world-class saves in the first half to keep at bay a German side still riding the euphoric wave of their World Cup feats when they finished third.
Sadly for Given and Ireland, he was beaten by an off-target Lukas Podolski drive which deflected off the ankle of Robbie Keane in the 57th minute.
'That's about as unlucky a goal as I've ever conceded,' said Given.
'I didn't think it was a free-kick in the first place, and then the shot is going wide before it hits Robbie's ankle. I was going to my right, but then the ball has gone back to my left, and it could have gone anywhere.
'Unfortunately, it's crept inside the post. It was not the luck of the Irish, but the luck of the Germans that it went their way.'
Given, though, was certainly the busier of the two goalkeepers, with Jens Lehmann not called upon to make a save, other than spilling what should have been a routine catch from a Steven Reid free-kick.
But the 30-year-old feels Ireland's performance was credible, offering hope for the remainder of the Group D campaign.
'We're devastated with the end result because on another night we would have got something from the game,' added Given.
'We knew it would be tough, and we knew I would have saves to make and the lads would have blocks to make. But that's what coming to places like this is all about, sticking in and defending when they have long periods of pressure. Sometimes you have to put up a defensive show, but we also had a lot of the play. It's maybe a case we lacked the killer instinct in front of goal.'
'I definitely don't feel we deserved to come away with nothing, and I think a neutral watching would think we should have got something as well.
'But we have to take a lot of plusses from the game because we showed we can match a fantastic German team that finished third in the World Cup just a couple of months ago."