Chequered past revisits Ireland

The was a sense of dΘja vu about it all. The two-all draw was a repeat of the first-ever encounter between these two sides here at Lansdowne Road five years ago, the 93rd-minute Davor Suker strike a more painful reminder of Ireland's late slip-up during the last European Championship qualifying campaign.

But if last night was a dry run for those amongst Mick McCarthy's squad who needed to prove themselves ahead of the visit of the Dutch next month then the manager can't have been at all displeased, even after some sloppiness late on allowed the Croatians to come from two down and gain an unlikely draw.

Before the flood of substitutions rendered the match almost meaningless, the Irish looked superior in just about every department. Steve Staunton and Richard Dunne coping admirably in central defence, Damien Duff and Robbie Keane both looking sharp at fit after their summer's rest. Those were the areas that McCarthy had wanted to be impressed by - and he must have been.

The result stretched the Republic's unbeaten run to 13 matches can have been nothing more than a pleasant bonus for the manager.

Ireland's passing through the opening 20 minutes suggested that they were capable of opening up the Croatian defence but even then the ease with which they did it for the opening goal was surprising.

Robbie Keane, as he did so often through the game, got involved in the move early on, picking up the ball outside the box before quickly feeding it short to Roy Keane a few yards away. Quickly, the Manchester United skipper slipped the ball diagonally towards Duff. He, in turn, looked to have been mistaken in not having a crack at goal first time but the 22-year-old clearly knew what he was at, dragging the ball back a couple of yards before driving it back across the goal and into the top left corner.

It was the Dubliner's first goal for his country in 21 games but, more promisingly from McCarthy's point of view, his first in two starts as a striker. Whether the partnership worked that well over all was another thing, though, for the tendency of one or other of the front men to drop deep towards midfield repeatedly left the Irish short of bodies in the Croatian box.

Still, the pair both had good night's with each troubling the visiting side's accomplished three man defence. On a couple of occasions Keane, in particular, won possession from decidedly unpromising positions. The pair's link-up play with their team-mates out on the flanks was good too.

Mark Kennedy posed a threat that he occasionally delivered on from the left, Stephen Reid, though he did little wrong, played as if still a little dumbstruck by the pace of the events that had resulted him wearing the number seven shirt.

Not so Clinton Morrison, the Crystal Palace striker who it is hard to imagine being lost for words. Barely on to the pitch for his first senior cap, the 22-year-old announced his arrival by first beating Dario Simic for pace as the pair hurtled down the right-hand touchline and then, with the corner flag approaching fast, managing to get in a fine cross for Connolly, who was only prevented from getting in a shot by the very close marking of Tudor.

He gave Connolly an even better chance of 20 minutes later when Steve Finnan started the process of getting the ball down the right land and Morrison's quick thinking set the Wimbledon striker well clear of the Croatian defence. At the Morrison stage of his own international career, Connolly would surely have slipped the ball away in the one-on-one that ensued, instead his head went down and the ball was driven low and well right of the right-hand post.

If his confidence in front of goal has seemed questionable for a while now at this level, Connolly still looked very comfortable as he pushed the ball around for others last night and it was his movement and through ball that provided the opening for Ireland's second goal of the night.

Jason McAteer should have been the one to benefit, but the 30-year-old midfielder's shot was well stopped. Stipe Pletikosa did well to stop the firmly-struck shot which ran instead straight into the path of the oncoming Morrison.

With the game looking won it was perhaps understandable that the defence would ease up a little over the closing stages.

Even when Davor Vuginec quickly pulled one back for the Croatians with a long-range header, anything other than an Irish win seemed unlikely.

As the game entered its closing stages, though, McCarthy had made all nine of his permitted changes an arrangement so liberating for the Ireland manager that he was, by now, taking the opportunity to have a look at Kevin Kilbane in a left back role.

Dunne, having performed well during the first half, went off at the break, leaving his manager, one suspects, in less doubt than ever about the ability of last night's starting central defensive partnership to cope against the Dutch.

Only once had they really been caught out during the half but even on that occasion, Alen Boksic had been on the receiving end of what looked a harsh offside decision.

As the second half's chopping and changing kicked in, however, and the game became more open generally, there were bound to be some misunderstandings around the Irish area. Davor Suker should have capitalised on one, when he volleyed wildly over from 12 yards having been left unmarked.

He was never going to pass up on his second opportunity when a penalty was awarded after the night's third Irish debutant, John O'Shea handled a Robert Prosinecki corner three minutes into injury time.

Just as he had done late on in Zagreb two years ago the 33-year-old stepped up to score from the spot-kick, for his 44th goal in 63 internationals.

Suker had said beforehand that the Croatians were taking the game seriously because of the need to impress coach Mirko Jozic ahead of next month's crucial qualifier in Glasgow and typically, he'd done his bit. Mirko, like his opposite number, made his way out of Lansdowne Road with something to smile about.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Given (Newcastle United); Kelly (Leeds United), Dinne (Manchester City), Staunton (Aston Villa), Harte (Leeds United); reid (Millwall), Keane (Manchester United), Carsley (Coventry City), Kennedy (Wolves); Keane (Leeds United), Duff (Blackburn Rovers). Substitutes: A Kelly for S Given (half-time), A O'Brien for R Dunne (half-time), J McAteer for R Keane (half-time), S Finnan for S Reid (half-time), K Kilbane for M Kennedy (half-time), C Morrison for R Keane (52 mins), D Connolly for D Duff (52 mins), S McPhail for I Harte (60 mins), J O'Shea for G Kelly (82 mins).

CROATIA: Pletoikosa; R Kovac, Tudor, Simic; Stanic, N Kovac, Soldo, Rapaic, Jarni; Balaban, Boksic.Substitutes: I Biscan for M Stanic (half-time), B Zivkovic for M Rapaic (half-time), V Vugrinec for B Balaban (half-time), D Saric for R Jarni (60 mins), S Thomas for Z Soldo (74 mins), D Suker for A Boksic (74 mins), R Prosineski for S Simic (74 mins), N B ejelica for N Kovac (82 mins)

Referee: A Schluchter (Switzerland)