Soccer Under-17 European Championship/Republic of Ireland - 0 Serbia & Montenegro - 3: If some times are better than others to concede a goal in an important game then Seán McCaffrey's men could at least draw some comfort from the fact that their concession of a ludicrously soft one after just 70 seconds of last night's final under-17 European Championship qualifier at Tolka Park left them the best part of the night to make amends for the error.

Having men sent off while chasing a game, though, is almost invariably a swift route to disaster and with three Irish players dismissed over the course of what turned out to be a disjointed and, for the locals, deeply disappointing contest, it was no surprise the home side made a somewhat ignominious exit from the competition.

The Danish referee may have handled the game very poorly, and there were certainly few in the Irish camp happy with him by the end, but in reality the Irish were the principal architects of their own misfortune.

As Romania did the Irish (or, as it turned out, the Serbs for it is they who qualify for May's finals) a favour by beating Israel 3-1 in Bray, Garry Breen, Harry Arter and Graham Carey were all culpable to some degree for their dismissals - although McCaffrey did contest the fairness of Breen's afterwards - and their exits, in the 32nd, 55th, and 88th minutes, effectively rendered their team's position hopeless.

"I thought the referee favoured them all night," said McCaffrey afterwards, "but to be fair it was the early goal that did the real damage . . . the sendings-off just meant there was no way back for us.

"To lose one man against a team of that quality is always going to put you in bother but to lose two, then three . . .

"It's a terribly disappointing way to end a European Championship campaign and what has been a very good season, particularly with the other result going our way big time."

McCaffrey's men had to chase the game due to their calamitous handling of the follow-up to a Jovetic free in the opening minutes. After the Irish wall had initially done its job well, the amply gifted Partizan Belgrade striker chased down the rebound out on the left.

Briefly, he looked to have knocked the ball on too far as he worked his way into the area but Breen completely missed his attempted clearance and Jovetic stepped in to finish in the 70th second.

Between the goal and the Breen's departure the Irish did manage to generate enough chances to comfortably secure an equaliser.

The best of them fell to Michael Spillane and Carey but the former's header lacked the power to beat Marko Knezevic, while the latter's scuffed shot from 12 yards was a terrible waste given that as McDermott's cross from the left fell to him he had both the time and space to attempt something altogether more measured.

The goalkeeper made another couple of decent saves when required to and Jovetic continued to pose a threat whenever the visitors managed to bring him into the game during Ireland's best spell, but at the back the Serbs looked far from clever at times with Cillian Sheridan's strength and Terry Dixon's touch looking to have the potential to deliver goals before the night was out.

Too often, though, the Irish players' control let them down at key moments and possession was given away in promising areas of the pitch.

The Republic's opponents proved capable enough on the break and they were helped, too, by a couple of Irish defensive errors prompted, it seemed, by the home side's determination to force the pace of things.

The Irish were certainly spirited throughout and even after Arter's dismissal they came close to scoring more than once but when VelijkoVukovic scored his side's second with a brilliant 25 yards strike nine minutes from time, though, the home side's fate was assured.

Jovetic's second goal of the night a minute later did no more than rub salt in the wounds of the locals.

IRELAND: Redmond (Nottingham Forest); Treacy (Cherry Orchard), Donoghue (Sunderland), Breen (Manchester City), Fitzgerald (West Ham); Carey (Celtic), Spillane (Norwich City), Arter (Charlton Athletic), McDermott (Manchester City); Sheridan (Belvedere), Dixon (Tottenham Hotspur). Subs: Cahillane (Celtic) for Sheridan (58 mins).

SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO: Knezevic; Cetnik, Blagojevic, Krkovic, Gulan; Vukovic, Milos Nikolic, Marko Nikolic, Miladinovic; Pelicic; Jovetic. Subs: Perovic for Pelicic (70 mins).

Referee: P Rasmussen (Denmark).