Republic of Ireland - 2 Czech Republic - 1 Nobody will need to tell Brian Kerr that when he brings his side to Paris in the autumn there will be a little more at stake for Ireland's opponents than pride over an long unbeaten run.

Another night on which some famous names on the international stage seemed incapable of living up to their star billing against a lively and determined Irish side will add weight to the manager's case that his team will enter their next campaign a more formidable outfit than they ended their last.

The Czechs may console themselves as they travel home that all good things come to an end and, after 20 matches without tasting defeat, a slip-up could never have been far away. The Irish will reflect with some justifiable pride, however, on beating a side that boasted much individual talent and considerable collective spirit. That their winner came as late as the 93rd minute, thanks to an opportunistic goal from Robbie Keane, should only sweeten the taste of victory.

Though there were flaws, this was ultimately a good win for Kerr, whose team got the better of strong opponents in a game that improved as it went on.

Along the way there were debuts for Paddy Kenny and Liam Miller, and promising if not perfect performances by some less well established players, among them Alan Maybury whose clearance off the line with the teams still scoreless was one of the key moments of the opening half.

Those first 45 minutes may have lacked a little urgency, but there was a good deal to admire in the Irish approach work, with Damien Duff and Andy Reid producing flourishes that left Czech defenders trailing in their wake.

Three other players went close to beating the visiting side's highly-rated young goalkeeper, Petr Cech.

One was Clinton Morrison, whose display went a good way towards explaining how it is he has been managing to play up front for Birmingham and consistently win praise despite almost never scoring.

Around the edges of the Czech box the 24-year-old generally did well, both on and off the ball, but around the goalmouth itself it was a very different story. The former Crystal Palace striker repeatedly failed to get the required touch as chance after glaring chance slipped past.

Perhaps to his relief, he wasn't entirely alone in his misfiring. When the home side opened up the Czechs for the first time with a neatly strung together series of passes from midfield, Kevin Kilbane was presented with a fine opportunity to score his fifth international goal but headed over from close range.

Keane later squandered an even easier chance, miscuing badly with his right foot from a couple of yards, although Morrison's failure to turn the ball home was almost as baffling.

By the opening minutes of the second half, Duff's corner was headed off the foot of the post by Gary Doherty, but when the striker failed to turn the rebound home even he must have thought it wasn't going to be his night.

Still, he was due some credit for Ireland's goal with referee Erik Fisker spotting that Rene Bolf was holding the Irishman and awarded the home side a free from the edge of the area.

Up stepped Ian Harte who, having already shown more confidence in an Ireland shirt than we have seen from him in quite some time, calmly drove low past the wall and into the bottom corner for his first international goal in almost exactly two years.

The strike raised the stakes for the visitors, many of whom must have had difficulty before this game recalling what it was like to be on a losing international side. Nedved had departed at the break after being roughed up on three occasions and never having made much on an impact on the game.

Jan Koller, who had produced a couple of half-chances during the same period, was also substituted, but those left behind continued to look menacing on the break, most memorably within five minutes of the goal when a deflected shot by Marek Jankulovski forced a good save from Shay Given and Roman Tyce's follow up produced a goal-line clearance from Harte.

With 15 minutes left Milan Baros squandered an outstanding opportunity to equalise when he fired wildly over after being sent clean though by Jankulovski's cross.

Baros' luck, though, was in and with eight minutes of normal time remaining Marek Heinz pushed the ball over the Irish centre halves. The Liverpool striker, who looked offside and perhaps handled with his first touch, pushed the ball past the Irish goalkeeper to draw the sides level.

With a string of substitutions breaking up what was left of the game, the Irish struggled slightly to regain their previous momentum, but so many stoppages yielded five minutes of added time and most of the 42,000 crowd seemed to sense that there was still something left in the game, for surprisingly few made an attempt to beat the rush by leaving.

Those who stayed may have thought they had been rewarded when Rory Delap's throw from the left found the back of the net, but it failed to get the touch required to make it count and the search for a winner resumed.

It arrived three minutes into stoppage time when Alan Lee pulled back what had looked a fairly harmless ball until Tomas Ujfalusi lost his footing.

Keane was fractionally quicker to react than Tomas Galasek and a low, eight-yard shot to Martin Vaniak's right was enough to give Ireland their win and leave him just two short of Niall Quinn's record of 21 goals for the Republic.

REPUBLIC OF Ireland: Given (Newcastle Utd); Maybury (Hearts), Doherty (Tottenham), Cunningham (Birmingham City), Harte (Leeds Utd); Reid (Nottingham Forest), Holland (Charlton), Kilbane (Everton), Duff (Chelsea); Morrison (Birmingham City), Keane (Tottenham). Subs: Delap (Southampton) for Reid (65 mins), Miller (Celtic) for Doherty (69 mins), Lee (Cardiff City) and Kinsella (West Brom) for Morrison and Duff (76 mins), Kenny (Sheffield Utd) for Given (82 mins).

CZECH REPUBLIC: Cech; Jiranek, Bolf, Ujfalusi, Jankulovski; Sionko, Galasek, Tyce; Nedved; Baros, Koller. Subs: Vaniak for Cech, Lokvenc for Koller, Heinz for Nedved, Stajner for Sionko (all half-time), Rozehnal for Bolf (58 mins), Plasil for Jiranek (69 mins), Vorisek for Baros (84 mins).

Referee: Erik Knud Fisker (Denmark).