World Cup Play-off (second leg) Belgium 2 Republic of Ireland 1 (Belgium win 3-2 on aggregate)
THE Republic of Ireland’s dream of a third consecutive appearance in the World Cup finals perished on a rainy night in Belgium as substitute David Connolly was sent off in the frantic rush to wipe out Luc Nilis’s 68th minute decider.
Mick McCarthy’s team looked to have at least a chance of forcing extra time when another substitute, Ray Houghton, brilliantly headed an equaliser 13 minutes into the second half and just nine minutes after replacing Alan McLoughlin.
That pulled the aggregate scores back level after Belgium’s naturalised Brazilian striker Luis Oliveira rounded goalkeeper Shay Given in the 25th minute to give his side an edge they hardly deserved.
But then Nilis, marked skintight all night by Derby’s Lee Carsley, escaped for practically the only time in the game to slide his shot home following Gert Claessens’ overhead kick which wrong-footed the Irish defence at a throw-in.
It was the third goal in two weeks that PSV Eindhoven star Nilis had scored against Given and the young Newcastle goalkeeper left the field in tears after the final whistle.
But it was 20-year-old Connolly’s silly dismissal eight minutes before the end which really killed off the last real hope of Ireland pulling this play-off out of the fire after being held to a 1-1 draw at Lansdowne Road 18 days earlier.
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TEN-MAN Cliftonville stunned title rivals Linfield with a 2-1 win at Windsor Park on Saturday to remain in pole position in the chase for the championship.
The Reds lost skipper Mickey Donnelly in the 38th minute with the game still scoreless, the midfielder dismissed after an off-the-ball clash with Brazilian Eric Feca, who was making his debut for the Blues.
Cliftonville manager Marty Quinn accepted that Donnelly deserved to go, but was prepared to accept some of the blame for the loss of his captain.
“I have no objections to the sending off. But maybe I could take a bit of the responsibility because I had told Mickey I needed more from him and Gary Sliney in terms of effort so maybe he was over-motivated,” said Quinn.
No problems with Sliney’s motivation though, the midfielder slamming home two second-half penalties, the first from a rebound.
Quinn commented: “I am well pleased with the result. We fear no-one so we went there in a positive frame of mind. I told the team at half-time we could still win the game even though we were down to 10 men.”
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TERESA Duffy showed encouraging form for next month’s European CrossCountry Championships in Portugal finishing a fine second in yesterday’s Margate International in Kent.
The Beechmount Harrier finished two seconds behind winner Liz Talbot and possibly would have claimed victory had she been slightly more positive in the first half of the race.
Duffy clawed back a deficit of around 40 metres on Talbot at the midway point to be in close attendance at the finishing line. Talbot’s winning time was 16.32.
Overall, it was an excellent day for Irish athletes at the opening leg of the new Reebok-sponsored British
cross-country series.
The Irish men’s team, helped by solid runs by national champion Seamus Power (5th), David Burke (6th) and Noel Cullen (8th), took the team title ahead of a weaker than usual Kenyan squad.
Splitting Burke and Cullen was Northern Ireland’s top man Dermot Donnelly whose seventh place meant he was the fourth UK athlete home which augurs well for the remainder of the season.
Donnelly now must be in the British selectors’ thoughts for the European Championships.
Also in the men’s event, Newcastle man Deon McNeilly placed 31st.
In the junior races, Belfast talent Gareth Turnbull took fifth as did Dubliner Maria Lynch in the girls race.
