Ireland 2-3 Poland

Giovanni Trapattoni’s unbeaten record was torn apart by three impressive Polish goals at Croke Park on Wednesday night. A perfect set-piece, a nice one touch move and a bullet of a shot from the edge of the box culminated in a Polish victory despite replies by, first, Stephen Hunt’s penalty and, second, a Keith Andrews late finish

Things started rather rubbish for Ireland, behind in the third minute following captain Mariusz Lewandowski’s fine header from a great ball in from Lukasz Gargula. Ireland then rallied and dominated the chances in the first half, with an immediate response looking likely through Damien Duff following a great move involving Kevin Doyle and Caleb Folan; however Duff’s right footed finish, not for the last time in the game, was lacking composure and flew over the bar

In the 16th minute, Folan rose to head straight at the keeper from fine Duff free-kick. Ireland began pressing high up the park, but looked very vulnerable from the counter attack, Borussia Dortmund’s Jakub Blaszcykowski looking particularly impressive on the right wing

Folan and Doyle were connecting well though and combined to release the latter in the 20th minute, but his effort was saved. Duff was let in again on the half-hour mark but his right foot effort went wide and then, just before the break, came Duff’s best chance of the game. Released down the right by Folan, he finally managed to turn onto his stronger left foot, however his curled effort went just past the far post.

The second half started like the first, with the Poles quickly striking again, this time through substitute Roger Guerreiro’s first touch of the game (Blitzkrieg anyone?...Too soon?). Gargula flicked a through ball into the path of the sub and he passed the ball excellently past given from the edge of the area, another fine finish

Ireland made a few changes then, with Duff, Doyle, and the rather ineffective Andy Keogh and Darren Gibson making way for the Hunt brothers, Shane Long and Keith Andrews. Richard Dunne almost responded for Ireland a half hour later when he creamed Fabianski in the Polish goal, following a Stephen Hunt corner, but the ball was scrambled clear

Stephen Hunt was making a huge difference with his injection of fresh legs on the left and caused loads of problems for the Poles. Indeed but for the alertness of Fabianski, he would have been in on goal with ten minutes to go; Alas not

Then came the entertaining finale. First, Folan should have scored when he broke from the halfway line with no defender in sight; however an amazing recovering tackle from the full back Jakub Wawrzyniak denied Folan a goal on his full debut

Then, with two minutes of regular time remaining, Shane Long went down in the box winning a penalty for Ireland. Stephen Hunt stepped up, Trapattoni went bananas in the dugout at the thought of him taking the kick, but he scored, well

That shut the damn Polish fans up, for about 60 seconds. Because they replied straight away with a scorching blast from Robert Lewandowski from outside the box, some finish! Where were you Alex Bruce? That shut the remaining Irish fans up, for about 60 seconds. Because Shane Long’s stretching header bounced all over the shop before Folan teed up Andrews to blast in from the edge of the area

In what remained of injury time Kevin Kilbane finally did something other than back off the advancing Polish winger. His shot from right in front of goal was desperately blocked by a Polish body and the final whistle went. Ireland 2-3 Poland.

Republic of Ireland: Shay Given (c); Paul McShane (Alex Bruce 59), John O’Shea, Richard Dunne, Kevin Kilbane; Glen Whelan, Keogh (Stephen Hunt 59), Darron Gibson (Keith Andrews 72), Kevin Doyle (Noel Hunt 59), Damian Duff (Shane Long 66), Caleb Folan.
Subs not used: Brian Murphy, Liam Miller, Kevin Foley, Damien Delaney, Anthony Stokes, Kieran Westwood.

Poland: Lukasz Fabianski; Bartosz Bosacki, Marcin Wasilewski, Jakub Wawrzyniak, Dariusz Dudka, Jakub Blaszczykowski (Roger Guerreiro 46), Mariusz Lewandowski, Jacek Krzynowek (Tomasz Jodlowiek 81), Lukasz Gargula, Pawel Brozek (Robert Lewandowski 46), Rafal Boguski (Slawomir Peszko 69).
Subs not used: Lukasz Zaluska, Tomasz Bandrowski, Grzegorz Wojtkowiak, Radoslaw Majewski.

Referee: Kristinn Jakobsson (Iceland)

Attendance: 50,566

Extratime Man of the Match: Mariusz Lewandowski (Poland) - One of the many, many, many differences between the two sides was the fact that Poland’s central midfielder was absolutely terrific at commanding his colleagues, dictating play, and generally playing football. We haven’t had someone like that in almost three managers now. The Irish midfield was basically his bitch.

Pics by Gary Fox, www.garyfox.ie