Too little, too late for error-prone Ireland

SOCCER/Republic of Ireland 2 Poland 3:WITH BULGARIA having imploded against Serbia earlier in Belgrade last night started rather well for Giovanni Trapattoni. However, by the end of a utterly frantic international game at Croke Park, the Italian must have been thankful for the hand the World Cup draw dealt him last December but just a little daunted by how much work might have yet to be done if this Irish side is to take advantage of that good fortune.

After a breathless closing few minutes, the scoreline actually read respectably enough with the hosts only narrowly losing a game in which they were, for long spells, comfortably second best.

Inevitably, some of his critics will seize on the performance, particularly in central midfield, as further evidence of the coach's miscalculation in relation to Andy Reid and while it's debatable how much the Sunderland midfielder's particular bag of tricks might have brought to the party, almost entirely Polish, last night, it is clear that the central midfield partnership of Glenn Whelan and Darron Gibson is quite some way off being ready to face opposition of real quality in a qualifying game.

Twice during his brief reign as Ireland manager, Trapattoni has seen his side take an early lead and never look back. This time, it was the opposition, cheered on by supporters who seemed to out number and certainly out sang the locals, who got their noses in front early on. A second followed just after the break with the remaining goals all coming in the dying minutes.

For the Irish manager, though, the overall performance and the manner in which the goals were conceded must have been even more aggravating than the fact his men managed to let three in at home.

The first came from a floated Lukasz Gargula free into the box which was defended fairly abysmally with Caleb Folan looking to be the guiltiest party as Mariusz Lewandowski turned his glancing header past Shay Given and into the bottom right corner of the goal.

Folan looked decidedly lost again 25 minutes later when Lewandowski was allowed a free header from Rafal Boguski's corner but on that occasion the Polish skipper couldn't get high enough to turn the ball back from beyond the far post and onto the target.

Gibson had some nice moments with the odd insightful pass forward but for the most part he and Whelan struggled with the defensive side of things in the centre of the field. The Poles moved the ball quickly and incisively when going forward, whether out wide or through the middle and Trapattoni must have been dismayed with the number of scoring opportunities they managed to generate.

Richard Dunne got Ireland out of a tight corner more than once over the course of the night but on one occassion after a mistake himself he recovered quickly to prevent a shot from Pawel Brozek with a marvellous challenge.

The home side, to be fair, looked better going forward than falling back. Folan, in particular, had a game of two halves with the Hull City striker looking fairly awful in his own half but a rather more attractive proposition in the opposition's where a series of well timed and weighted lay-offs created opportunities - especially Damien Duff.

The Newcastle winger once again proved a handful for his markers and made his usual contribution in terms of crosses delivered and free kicks won. In front of goal, though, he had a hugely disappointing night with a couple of really outstanding chances to pull Ireland level passed up before he was replaced 67 minutes in by Reading's Shane Long.

However, the miss of the night went to Robert Lewandowski who somehow shot wide from six yards as Given raced forward in a desperate but, it must be said, failed attempt to narrow the target.

By then, though, it was 2-0 to the visitors with Roger Guerreiro having grabbed their second after Ireland had been carved apart through the centre with the most elementary of passing moves, one that had started from the Polish right back position and ended, with just one brief stop over inside the Irish box.

The second goal came within 90 seconds of the second half getting under way and by the hour mark the only consolation was that having come so close to falling further behind, the Irish were now throwing themselves with some abandon into the pursuit of some goals of their own.

They came very close a couple of times and finally got off the mark when Long was bundled over just inside the area by Tomasz Jodlowiec and Stephen Hunt sent the goalkeeper the wrong way from the spot. With two minutes to play, Hunt grabbed the ball as it came back out of the net from the penalty but probably regretted his eagerness moments later as the visitors won a throw in on the right with the Irish looking utterly at sea.

Kevin Kilbane didn't help things with a terribly wild header but all around him the defending was poor and the ball eventually landed at the feet of Robert Lewandowski who made no mistake this time, planting the ball in the top corner from the edge of the area.

Almost from the restart Ireland won a corner which Stephen Hunt took and the Poles failed to clear. Folan played the ball into the path of Keith Andrews who found the net from 20 yards just 18 minutes into his first senior international game. Despite the defeat the Dubliner can be forgiven if he comes away with fond memories of the night. But for Trapattoni it will surely inspire the occasional nightmare.

REP OF IRELAND: Given (Newcastle Utd); McShane (Hull City, Bruce, Ipswich 60), O'Shea (ManchesterUtd), Dunne (Manchester City), Kilbane (Wigan); Keogh (Wolves, S Hunt, Reading 60), Gibson (Manchester Utd, Andrews, Blackburn, 72), Whelan (Stoke), Duff (Newcastle, Long, Reading 66); Folan (Hull), Doyle (Reading, N Hunt Reading 60).

POLAND: Fabianski (Arsenal); Wasilewski (Anderlecht), Bosacki (L Poznan), Dudka (Auxerre), Wawrzyniak (L Warsaw); M Lewandowski (S Donetsk); Blaszczykowski (B Dortmund, Roger 46), Gargula (GKS Betchatow), Krzynowek (Wolfsburg, Jodlowiec 81); Boguski (W Krakow, Peszko 69); Brozek (W Krakow, Robert Lewandowski 46).

Referee: Kristinn Jakobsson (Iceland).