he went with the republic of ireland to the 2002 world cup scoring the equaliser against cameroon in their opening game. ireland were eliminated from this tournament in a second round penalty shoot-out against spain, with holland among those who missed. following ireland's failure to qualify for the 2006 world cup, he announced his retirement from international football on 5 february 2006 having made 49 appearances and scoring five goals. manager steve staunton had attempted to persuade holland to continue.