Fate deals Ireland a bad hand

Fate, in the guise of Belarussian referee Sergey Shmolik, conspired to put the Republic of Ireland out of the Meridian Cup in the searing heat of Cape Town yesterday.

Leading from a glorious Brendan McGill goal, scored just before half-time, the match turned on an unsporting incident which brought Egypt their equaliser nine minutes into the second half.

With Irish left back Keith Foy down with a head injury, goalkeeper Joe Murphy kicked the ball into touch in the hope of getting his team-mate treatment.

But Shmolik, a late replacement for the listed South African referee, astonished most onlookers by refusing to allow Irish physio Declan Mahon on to the pitch. Then, Egyptian midfielder Abouel Magd Mohamed, instead of giving the ball back to Ireland, threw it into Ireland's box and Reda Shehata got possession to blast the ball into the roof of the net.

If that didn't anger the Irish players and bench enough, they were utterly incensed by Shmolik's refusal to give them what was a blatant penalty seven minutes from time.

UCD striker Glen Fitzpatrick was clearly pulled down at least two yards inside the box by Mahmoud Mahmoud, but Smolik ignored one of his assistants to give Ireland a free-kick on the 18yard line from which Gary Dempsey shot over the crossbar.

"FIFA and UEFA make a big issue out of fair play before and during these tournaments, but there was none shown to us," said a frustrated Brian Kerr.

"The referee was just awful. He booked David McMahon for his only tackle in the game yet the player marking him fouled him seven times and wasn't shown a card. He then doesn't give us a penalty when the foul clearly took place inside the area."

Ireland's goal arrived in the 42nd minute after Liam Miller, a tireless anchor in midfield, intercepted an Egyptian free-kick and embarked on a surging run. He powered his way past four challenges before slipping the ball through to the supporting McGill who calmly shot past Ahmed from 12 yards.

Despite the second half injustices, Ireland might have won it three minutes from time but for an acrobatic tip-over save by Ahmed from Miller's 25-yard shot.

"We're out of the tournament," said Kerr, "but we played more than well enough to be still in it. I was so proud of all the players who were magnificent throughout the competition."