AN UNFORGETTABLE game in the Giants Stadium in New Jersey in the early hours of the morning saw the American referee, Raul Dominguez, issue red cards to Liam Daish, Niall Quinn and manager Mick McCarthy.

A smoldering occasion was set fully alight in the 57 minute when Daish, earlier booked for a foul on Francisco Palencia, was sent off for alleged time wasting as he lined up a free kick on the halfway line.

Seconds earlier, Joaquim Del Olmo had been shown a yellow card for a cynical tackle on David Connolly, and Daish's sending off so enraged the Irish dugout that the substitutes came on the pitch. Quinn was then sent off for grabbing Jose Abundis by the shoulder.

Then three minutes later, Connolly received a second yellow for kicking the ball away, and when the enraged McCarthy threw the ball into the crowd to give his players time to regroup, he, too was shown the yellow card. The end product is that the manager will be barred from the dugout for Saturday's meeting with Bolivia in which the Irish squad will be reduced just 14 eligible players.

It was the culmination of a bizarre refereeing performance by Dominguez. At times it was comical, on other occasions quite eccentric. But when the dust had settled, his was the name which dominated the conversation.

Inevitably, the referee's performance inflamed the crowd and fighting broke out among the rival fans in a crowd of 21,000 in the second half to tarnish the occasion still further.

The sad fact was that it obscured the rich merit in an Irish display which saw them recover from conceding a 40th minute goal to lead for much of the second half.

But inevitably, Dominguez took a hand again when he awarded Mexico a penalty from which Luis Garcia scored to bring his tally in two games against Ireland to an impressive four goals.

Showing eight changes from that which lost to the United States, the young Irish team did themselves proud with players like Mark Kennedy, Alan Moore, Keith O'Neill and Gary Breen enhancing their reputations.

"Forget about the sendings off this was a rattling good Irish performance," said McCarthy. "The lads showed a lot of courage out there this evening and they needed to in a game that they and I will long remember.

Heavy rain fell throughout the game, but in the fifth minute 61 injury time Gary Breen almost won it for the Irish with a powerful shot which the goalkeeper did well to parry.

And Packie Bonner, making what was almost certainly his farewell appearance in the team, reached back into the past for the intuition which twice rescued Ireland in the opening 15 minutes.

Years of experience had Bonner in precisely the right position to knock over Manuel Sol's firmly struck shot from 22 yards, and it was Bonner's outstretched boot which again denied Sol just minutes later after Raul Lara had set up the chance for the Mexican striker.

Luis Garcia's perception and the midfield power of Joaquin Del Olmo was presenting the Irish defence with some of their biggest problems. But, against" that, the Mexican defence was beaten time and again by the pace of Kennedy down the left wing.

Kennedy,, enjoying his most successful international game to date, was invariably capable of taking on and beating Claudio Suarez. but sadly, a sequence of three crosses failed to find any of his colleagues in support.

Connolly had a clear cut chance, again from Kennedy's cross in the 33rd minute, but after doing the hard part by wriggling through Villa's tackle, he shot into the side netting.

In this morning's other match Bolivia defeated the host nation USA 2-0.