Ireland left with mountain to climb after Croatian defeat

By Brendan O'Brien

Republic of Ireland 1 Croatia 3

The Republic of Ireland have left themselves wedged behind the black ball in Group C of the European Championships after a convincing 3-1 defeat to Croatia in Poznan's Municipal Stadium on Monday evening.

After all the waiting, all the anticipation, Ireland went and conceded a goal after just two minutes. It was the sixth quickest goal ever scored in the history of the European Championships and the fastest since Michael Owen's against Portugal in 2004.

Darijo Srna's cross from the right was deflected back into the path of Mario Mandzukic who seemed to lose his chance by stumbling forward but he still generated sufficient power to send a header past Shay Given and into the net.

To Ireland's credit, the concession didn't seem to rattle them. Damien Duff had a shot wide and Keith Andrews sent a free-kick into the Croatian wall before the industrious Kevin Doyle won a free wide on the Irish left-flank 12 minutes in.

Aiden McGeady's cross was one of those dipping inswingers that defences have nightmares about and Sean St Ledger did superbly to work his way inside Vedran Corluka and twist his body into a position from which to head past Stipe Pletikosa.

A phantom whistler decided to blow up just at that moment and that persuaded 43,000 people to look towards the referee and his assistants for confirmation of a free out but then realisation dawned that the score would stand.

Cue bedlam.

Unfortunately for Ireland, the equaliser seemed to have the same effect on Croatia as the opening effort did on them and the next half an hour saw Slaven Bilic's side turn the screw with Ivan Rakitic, Ivan Perisic and Luke Modric all having pot shots.

Their second was a killer both for its timing and the manner in which it came about. Luka Modric's shot was a poor one but it pinged around on the edge of the area for a bit before Stephen Ward skewed a clearance back towards his own goal.

Jelavic, who had been in an offside position for Modric's initial effort, was perfectly within his rights to latch onto such a gift and his dinked finish was typical of a man who had enjoyed such a prolific season with Rangers and Everton.

Robbie Keane and Giovanni Trapattoni were still debating the legality of Jelavic's strike with the referee as they prepared to emerge for the second-half but they had more pressing matters to worry about minutes later when Mandzukic grabbed his second.

It was a brilliant header, attempted from 12 yards out but it required a detour off the post and off the back of Given's head before finding a way into the Irish net – yet another suggestion that maybe this wasn't meant to be Ireland's night.

Trapattoni rsponded within minutes by sending on Jonathan Walters and Simon Cox for Doyle and Aiden McGeady and, while Ireland's play did perk up a little, they had nothing to show for it as the clock worked against them.

Most of their chances fell to Keith Andrews who almost converted a header in the dying minutes but only after Rakitic sent a superb curling effort just wide of Given's right post with twelve minutes still to go.

So, it could have been 3-2 and it could have been 4-1, but there was no debating the fact that the better side had won. Spain await Ireland's attention next in Gdansk on Thursday. It won't be getting any easier.

Republic of Ireland: S Given; J O'Shea, S St Ledger, R Dunne, S Ward; D Duff, K Andrews, G Whelan, A McGeady; R Keane, K Doyle. Substitutes: J Walters for Doyle (53); S Cox for A McGeady (53); S Long for Keane (74).

Croatia: S Pletikosa; D Srna, V Corluka, G Schildenfeld, I Strinic; O Vukojevic; I Rakitic, L Modric, I Perisic; M Mandzukic, N Jelavic; Substitutes: N Kranjcar for Jelavic (72); Eduardo for Perisic (88); T Dujmovic for Perisic (91).

Referee: B Kuipers (Netherlands).