AS the Republic of Ireland huffed, puffed and achieved little against Australia, their next Group Eight opponents Cyprus suffered an almighty drubbing when they took on Albania yesterday evening.

The Cypriots went down to a 6-1 defeat at the Qemal Stafa stadium in Tirana, hardly the morale-boosting win they were looking for ahead of the September 5th match in Nicosia.

Two Ervin Skela penalties either side of an equaliser from Konstantinos Charalambidis gave the Albanians a 2-1 half-time lead. And four goals in the space of 11 minutes in the second half put them out of sight.

Cyprus may already be out of the running for South Africa with just one win and two draws from their six games but they could yet have a major say in who qualifies with matches against Ireland, Bulgaria and Italy to come.

Montenegro, who Ireland round off their campaign against in October, enjoyed a more fruitful evening with a 2-1 win over Wales.

First-half strikes from Stevan Jovetic, from the penalty spot, and Radomir Dalovic were enough for Montenegro, despite Wales pulling a goal back through Sam Vokes in the 52nd minute.

Elsewhere, Dimitar Rangelov’s 54th-minute goal earned Bulgaria a 1-0 win at home to Latvia.