The Wearsiders went in front after just 80 seconds through Kieran Richardson.

And from then on it was one-way traffic at the compact Lissywoollen Ground, whose 6,000 capacity came close to being filled by a crowd which included a sizeable contingent of Sunderland fans.

Michael Chopra scored twice, while new signing El-Hadji Diouf scored his first goal for the club, and there were further goals for Grant Leadbitter and Daryl Murphy.

It was an easy workout for Sunderland, who will round off their pre-season programme with a game against Shamrock Rovers in Dublin tomorrow night.

Keane said: "We kept the tempo up, we didn't let it drop. Dean Whitehead made sure of that, which is good captaincy.

"We created a lot of chances because we were a lot stronger than the opposition.

"It was nice for Chops to score a couple of goals and for Dioufy to score a good goal.

"We've had a great welcome here, everyone has been fantastic and we move on now to Shamrock."

Kieran Richardson picked up a slight calf injury but it is no cause for concern.

Pascal Chimbonda suffered a dead leg in a collision last night. Both are unlikely to be involved in tomorrow's game in Dublin.

Although the Athlone Town match wasn't the most demanding of exercises for his players, Keane is enjoying the pre-season build-up and is developing a pecking order to his squad in his own mind, ahead of the start of the new campaign in just over a week.

He said: "My thoughts on the line-up for the Liverpool game change daily - and they change when you pick up injuries. We left a few out last night. I rested them for the Shamrock Rovers match.

"We'll have a better idea after the Shamrock Rovers game of what my line-up will be up against Liverpool."