The cruel plot which has played on our nerves for much of the last six months held two more shocking twists as the Republic of Ireland's Euro 2000 challenge moved dangerously close to the point of no return at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.

For the third time in four games, they appeared to have played themselves into a position of some authority, only to be undone in moments by raw panic in a defence which somewhere along this torturous road to the European finals appears to have thrown away the handbook on survival.

On this occasion, only six minutes had passed after Robbie Keane's potentially match-winning goal when Lee Carsley handled the ball in his penalty area and Tayfur Havutcu drove the ensuing award exultantly into the back of the net for an equaliser which fell like the clap of doom on the stadium.

Then, with composure running a distant second best to expediency, the young Coventry striker, who had flirted with trouble on at least two earlier occasions, was guilty of an unpardonable outburst of dissent to Swedish referee Andres Frist.

The inevitable punishment was meted out and when Keane's name went into the little black book for the second time in this championship, Mick McCarthy knew that he would have to plan without him for Wednesday's return game in Bursa.

In the context of grinding out the result needed to take Ireland to the European finals for the first time in 12 years, it is questionable which of these two late blows is the more detrimental.

Few enough teams at this advanced stage of a continental championship have survived the consequences of a score draw at home, and it does little to encourage hope that this team, which has looked opportunity in the eye and spurned it on so many occasions, can come good at the finish.

To execute that improbable escape act without a striker who clearly rates as the best in his squad will tax even one of McCarthy's stoic defiance in adversity. And in that the wages of the player's indiscretion threaten to be enormous.

Keane's impetuosity bespoke a much deeper problem in a team which in its present frame of mind is ill-equipped for the challenge of protecting a lead. To suggest that it will all come right in the hot bed of passion and patriotic pride that will be the Ataturk Stadium on Wednesday evening is, perhaps, to stretch credibility too far.

Later, McCarthy would point to the fact that Rustu Rencber had been nominated as the Man of the Match as proof that his team had put the visitors under the kind of pressure that ordinarily wins games. His line of reasoning, one has to say, was flawed.

True, Rustu pulled off a couple of crucial saves at important stages of the game, but for long tracts of time it was Turkey, reversing the accepted priorities for visiting teams, who were asking the more pertinent questions of the opposing defence.

The other salient point is that the individual award should more properly have gone to Sergen Yalcin, at the fulcrum of their midfield formation. His performance was almost certainly the most influential of the night.

Irish fans had looked to Roy Keane, back in the side for only the second time in five games, for the kind of leadership which has so often rescued Manchester United from difficult scrapes. Sadly, this wasn't a day when the Ireland captain was capable of heroics.

Unable, it seemed, to get to the pitch of the game on occasions, this was his least distinguished performance for some time. And it was illustrated, among other things, by the fact that Tayfur Havutcu, delegated by Turkish manager Mustaf Denizli to restrict Keane's contribution at source, was able to take time out to embark on some convincing runs of his own.

Carsley, all toil and tribulation in the challenge of getting close on Sergen, could seldom contemplate enterprise on that scale and in the duel of the two arch strategists it was the Turk who came out best.

Elsewhere, Ireland's display was sketchy enough to induce doubt even before the half-time break. Kevin Kilbane promised well on occasions and two firmly struck drives from the edge of the penalty area might have defeated a less vigilant goalkeeper.

That reflected the West Bromwich player's growing confidence at this level, but on the opposite flank Rory Delap found the challenge of taking his impressive club form to a higher plane all too much and he was eventually replaced by Damien Duff.

Ireland's problems began early with the withdrawal of Niall Quinn. A neck strain picked up in training on Friday proved more serious than first suspected and he was withdrawn less than an hour before the kick-off.

That invited heroics from his replacement, Tony Cascarino, but apart from one fine effort which Rustu saved at point-blank range in the approach to halftime, the French-based striker made little impact and was substituted by David Connolly in the 76th minute.

Connolly had been on the pitch only four minutes when he played a central goal in Ireland's goal, Denis Irwin's strength in the tackle created the chance in the first instance and when he put Connolly away on the left, Robbie Keane pulled off his marker to meet the ensuing cross and score from six yards. That was vintage Keane but then it all went terribly wrong for him.

At the back, Kenny Cunningham and Gary Breen looked more secure than of late. One suspects, however, that Steve Carr will not harbour happy memories of his duel with Hakan Unsal.

Unsal, whose choice in the starting line-up ahead of Arif Erden, the three-goal architect of an earlier win over Northern Ireland, occasioned some controversy in the Turkish press, eluded the Tottenham full-back on several occasions without ever summoning the decisive finishing skills.

Quinn is not the only casualty in the Ireland camp for Alan Kelly had to depart prematurely in the 62nd minute, providing Charlton's Dean Kiely with an unenviable entry to international football. In the event, he was called on to make just a couple of mundane saves before having to stoop into his net to retrieve the ball from Tayfur's penalty kick.

That emanated from a shot which rebounded off Breen onto Carsley lying on the ground. The Blackburn player, voluntarily or otherwise, appeared to nudge the ball with his arm and after reviewing the television evidence McCarthy had no qualms about the refereeing decision which leaves him and his team with a mission bordering on the impossible at Bursa in just over 48 hours' time.

Republic Of Ireland: A Kelly (Blackburn): S Carr (Tottenham), K Cunningham (Wimbledon), G Breen (Coventry), D Irwin (Man Utd): R Delap (Derby Co), Roy Keane (Man Utd), L Carsley (Blackburn), K Kilbane (West Brom); A Cascarino (AS Nancy), Robbie Keane (Coventry). Substitutes: D Duff (Blackburn) 54 mins for Delap, D Kiely (Charlton) 62 mins for Kelly, D Connolly (Feyenoord) 76 mins for Cascarino.

Turkey: W Regbar; A Beserler, O Temizkanoglu, A Ozalan: A Ercan, T Havutcu, T Korkut, S Yalcin, U Davala, H Unsal: H Sukur. Substitutes: A Erden (45 mins) for Davala, T Kerinoglu (67 mins for 11).

Referee: A Frist (Sweden).