Irish Euro hopes in tatters

Republic of Ireland 1 Switzerland 2

Mick McCarthy’s job was left hanging by a thread as his World Cup heroes crashed to the second successive defeat of their Euro 2004 qualifying campaign.

Hakan Yakin capitalised on some sloppy defending to open the scoring in the final minute of the first half.

It looked like the boys in green were going to salvage something when Ludovic Magnin scored an own goal after 77 minutes.

Ireland put together the sweetest one-touch move of the match after 74 minutes but it just failed to produce a goal.

Healy’s tenacity in the tackle forced the ball to Keane, who flicked it wide for Morrison. He laid the ball back into the path of Duff, but his shot was blocked by a fine saving tackle from former Sunderland defender Bernt Haas.

However, luck was with McCarthy after all as his team finally came up with the equaliser their pressure deserved.

They won a free-kick wide on the left and when Ian Harte floated it deep into the box the ball was sliced into his own net by blond left-back Magnin, who was under pressure from the challenge of Breen.

With 10 minutes remaining Duff hobbled off and Sunderland’s Thomas Butler came on for his second cap.

Doherty eventually came on for Harte after 84 minutes, but the gap left by the full-back was soon to be exposed in disastrous fashion for the Irish.

Switzerland made a double substitution with four minutes left as Mario Cantaluppi and Fabio Celestini replaced Wicky and Hakan Yakin.

A minute later, Celestini made an overlapping run down the flank, was picked out by Chapuisat, but blasted the ball past Given from just inside the box.

Ireland ended the night with no points from two matches, and a mountain to climb if they are going to overhaul Russia or the Swiss and qualify for Portugal. Whether or not McCarthy is around for the next match in March also remains to be seen.