European Under-17 Championship Qualifying/Republic of Ireland 1 Israel 1: After Serbia and Montengro had beaten Romania 1-0 in the day's earlier game it was Israel rather Ireland who went into last night's game at Richmond Park in a position to wrap up their place in this summer's European under-17 championships in Luxembourg.
To the dismay of the 2,100-strong crowd in Inchicore they came desperately close to doing it too. But an injury-time equaliser from Tottenham's Terry Dixon earned the Irish a draw that leaves Seán McCaffrey's side needing to avoid defeat on Friday while at least matching the result achieved by the Israelis if they are to come out on top of what is now a three- way tussle for qualification.
That the Irish came so close to elimination last night will surely be a source of some consternation within the team's management for they comfortably held their own through a tight first period and looked the more likely side to break the deadlock during the second.
Played in much better conditions than Monday's game at Dalymount, it was a match that included a great deal of good passing football from both sides but it was the commitment and industry of both sets of defenders that seemed set to dictate the result even if Israel did survive by the skin of their teeth on several occasions.
Certainly, Irish goalkeeper Shane Redmond was scarcely bothered after he smothered a close-range strike by Mahmoud Hijazi after a wonderful run and cross to the far post by Omer Damari very early on.
A momentary lapse at the back by the Irish, though, came close to proving fatal for the home side with Adi Saloniki tapping home a low Victor Mare cross from six yards after all the available defenders closed in on Boris Kleyman who simply let the ball run past him.
Up until then, it had taken a couple of goalline clearances simply to keep the visitors level with Oded Amitay clearing Brennan's goal-bound header in the seventh minute and Gal Shish getting a crucial touch under pressure from Christy Fagan with just over a half an hour played.
Fagan really should have scored however for when Brennan headed down Breen's long free-kick he had a good deal of empty goal to aim at. The Manchester United striker, though, failed to produce the required finish.
Worse was to come for the 16-year-old Fagan four minutes after the break when Ireland won a penalty for a clumsy-looking contact by Machluf on Michael Spillane, but he put the resulting spot-kick over the bar.
Immediately after Ireland's equaliser - a close-range strike by Dixon after Graham Carey's corner had been flicked on by Spillane- Redmond was forced into a dramatic save as Liad Sholomo Elmaleach sought to catch the goalkeeper off his line from some 50 metres out.
"The dressingroom is like a morgue in there," said McCaffrey afterwards. "We were relieved at the end but I thought we were the better side throughout, created the bulk of the chances and missed a penalty.
"It's not over, though, we're top of the group after two games played and a win of any sort on Friday will put us through unless Israel absolutely whip Romania so we still have a great opportunity to go to a European finals."
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Redmond (Nottingham Forest); Treacy (Cherry Orchard), Donoghue (Sunderland), Breen (Manchester City), Fitzgerald (West Ham); Cahillane (Celtic), Spillane (Norwich City), Arter (Charlton Athletic), Carey (Celtic); Sheridan (Belvedere), Fagan (Manchester United). Subs: Dixon (Tottenham Hotspur) for Sheridan (58 mins), Lyons (Crystal Palace) for Treacy (77 mins).
ISRAEL: Machluf; Amitay, Malul, Kapiloto, Shish; Arael, Saloniki; Jabarin, Damari, Hijazi; Sahar. Subs: Mare for Hijazi (45 mins), Sholomo Elmaleach for Jabarin (69 mins), Huta for Damari (78 mins).
Referee: V Aliyev (Azerbaijan).
