Hunt gives Irish faint hopes

Euro 2004 under-21 qualifer... Georgia 1 Republic of Ireland 1: A 10-man Republic of Ireland side fought back to claim a draw in the first of their back-to-back European Championship qualifiers, against Georgia under-21s in the Boris Paichadze National Stadium, in Tbilisi, yesterday afternoon.

The draw will not have helped Ireland's slim hopes of qualifying, but manager Don Givens later confirmed he would be asking the FAI to complain to UEFA about the performance of Hungarian referee Janos Megyebiro.

Megyebiro showed two yellow cards to Nottingham Forest's Andrew Reid in the space of a minute to reduce the Irish to 10 men before half time.

Reid picked up his first booking when he was involved in a tussle with an opposing defender as he tried to take a 31st-minute free kick.

Then, when he finally delivered the set-piece into the Georgian penalty area, the referee pulled him up for not waiting for his whistle, and brandished a second yellow card followed by a red, which rules him out of Tuesday's qualifier against Albania in Tirana.

Ireland had fallen behind after 19 minutes when goalkeeper Graham Stack conceded a free kick for handling outside his area, a yard from the byline, and Lado Akhalaia rose unchallenged to head home the ensuing free kick.

Substitute Noel Hunt salvaged some pride six minutes before the end when the Dunfermline man headed home a cross from fellow substitute Kevin O'Connor.

The uneven surface made it difficult for either team to play good football, and the early stages produced few clear-cut openings, but the Irish came close to scoring after nine minutes.

Goalkeeper Zurab Malaknadze, on the books of Italian giants AC Milan, dropped a cross from the left and Celtic's Liam Miller was unfortunate to be crowded out by the covering defenders as he tried to force the ball into the net.

Ireland conceded that sloppy goal and it might have got worse after 23 minutes as Akhalaia ran onto a through ball, but as Stack came out to meet him the Dynamo Tbilisi striker shot narrowly wide.

The second half produced few clear-cut chances, although Stack did well when he was smartly off his line after 64 minutes to spread his frame and block a close-range effort from Orbeladze.

Hunt replaced Wes Hoolahan after 73 minutes and with nine minutes remaining Kevin O'Connor came on for John Thompson - and the two subs combined to provide a fine equaliser.

O'Connor delivered a deep cross from the right and Hunt headed home at the far post - before embarking on a Robbie Keane-style celebratory flip.

It was Ireland's first point in the campaign, and they will need to beat Albania in Tirana to keep alive any faint hopes of progressing from Group 10.

Ireland may also lose Manchester United defender Paul Tierney for Tuesday's game after he came off at half time with the recurrence of a knee injury.

GEORGIA: Malaknadze, Orbeladze, Tsimakuridze, Salukvadze, Kandeliki, Burnadze, Mantskava, Siradze, Akhalaia, Asatiani, Bobokhibze.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Stack, Brennan, Goodwin, Thompson, Paisley, Tierney, Miller, Thornton, Daly, Reid, Hoolahan. Subs: Murphy, Byrne, Melligan, Hunt, Keane, O'Connor, Ward.

Referee: J Megyebiro (Hungary)