Irish hopes go up in smoke in Poznan

It was an unfortunate night to forget Giovanni Trapattoni’s celebrated art of defending.

Desperately seeking salvation from our celebrated stinginess at the back, Ireland suffered a rare dose of defensive dithering as our Euro 2012 ambitions went up in smoke. Trapattoni’s Republic conceded three goals for the first time in a tournament finals as Slaven Bilic’s Croatia cruised to victory in Poznan.

Almost 25,000 drenched Irish fans watched early goals in each half leave the Republic needing at least four points now from Group C games against world champions Spain and Italy. The European superpowers drew 1-1 yesterday in Gdansk.