The attacking duo both found the back of the net as a motivated Azzurri proved far too strong for the pointless Irish.

Italy secured their spot in the last eight of Euro 2012, following a convincing 2-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland in Poznan on Monday. Italy's goals were scored by Antonio Cassano and Mario Balotelli in each half.

Cesare Prandelli's side came into the game with tons of pressure on their shoulders, after failing to win either of their first two Group C games against Spain and Croatia. Due to this Italy put themselves in a must-win situation against the already-eliminated Republic of Ireland in their final group game.

Despite the tension, Italy put on a brilliant performance, sending a hard-working but at the same time poor quality Ireland home with three successive defeats, in a game which they dominated from the beginning to the end. 

After much pressure, Cassano finally put Italy ahead in the 35th minute, when he connected to a corner-kick with a near post header.

Super-sub Balotelli doubled Italy's lead in the 90th minute with a sensational bicycle kick, only a minute after Ireland went down to ten-men, following Keither Andrews' second bookable offence.

But Italy still had to wait a few minutes more to celebrate progression into the knock-out stage of the competition, with the confirmation that Spain had beaten Croatia 1-0 in the other Group match. 

What can we make of Italy's victory over the Rep. of Ireland?

While Italy still don't appear to be the final product, they have managed to remain unbeaten through all three group games, and were definitely worthy of progressing to the quarter-finals. Italy came into the clash knowing that anything less than the three points would send them home, but they didn't let themselves get distracted by what was happening in Group C's other group game between Croatia and Spain.

Instead, the Azzurri paid undivided attention to their playing scheme and that of Ireland's as they set out to reach their objective. Much of the credit should go to Prandelli, who finally seems to have assembled a unified side who are capable of matching it with the world's best.

But while Italy were evidently solid in all areas of the field, what should boost their chances of making an impact in the competition is the fact that Cassano and Balotelli were very lively against Ireland, and even managed to get on target. Not only will this give both players a wealth of confidence ahead of the quarter-finals, but it will surely consolidate the entire squad. As Prandelli stated in the post-match press conference, Italy "realized that beyond quality, you really need heart," to win games of this magnitude.

Looking ahead to the quarter-finals...

Italy will meet the winner of Group D in Kiev on Sunday, and with Sweden already eliminated, their rivals will either be France, England or co-hosts Ukraine. No matter which of these three teams they face, the Azzurri will be in for a mouthwatering clash, and a very difficult one indeed. But after their justified victory over Ireland, and the fact that both Cassano and Balotelli proved that they are capable of finding the back of the net, Italy should come into the quarters in highly-confident mood, because they have all of the necessary resources to reach the later stages of the competition.

When asked who he'd prefer to face in the quarters, Prandelli said it would be "no difference to us, we have already played Spain who are the reigning world and European champions. If we play well we can take on anyone."

And quite rightly so. Italy have sufficient quality to match it with the very best of the competition, and surely won't settle for what they have achieved so far. The four-time world champions are one of the teams with the highest pedigree on the globe, and shouldn't be taken lightly by anyone.