Doyle salvages late win from the wreck

Kazakhstan 1 Republic of Ireland 2

On the occasion of the 50th game of his tenure as manager of Ireland, Giovanni Trapattoni was last night within a couple of minutes of presiding over a nightmare in the making to rank way down there with Cyprus and Liechtenstein in the Irish football roll of dishonour, as Kazakhstan, the country ranked 142nd in the football world, led by a goal to nil with time running out in a disbelieving Astana Arena.

But then, in an unlikely and scarcely deserved smash and grab salvage operation which recalled the equally extraordinary end to an equally torrid night in San Marino under Steve Staunton, two of Ireland’s old guard strikers — Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle — came to the rescue to turn zero World Cup points into three.