Ireland stung by a late goal from Smith

Ah, the proverbial game of two halves. Rarely has the cliche been more clearly embodied, although last night's European Youth Championship match in Cyprus came with a sting in the tail.

They hammered us for the guts of the first half, we overran them for the best part of the second. Unexpectedly, though, it was towards the end of our best spell that the English grabbed the goal that brought them victory. Alan Smith of Leeds United scored it, though his role was hardly demanding.

Still, he was entitled to his rather exuberant celebration, for his side-footed effort from eight yards has put his side in the driving seat when it comes to the qualification process for Sunday evening's final. Avoid defeat by Croatia and England are through, while Ireland, unless the Croatians find something within themselves that they certainly didn't look to possess on Sunday, appear to be headed for the third place play-off, where Spain are the most likely opponents.

To be fair, there were spells, largely confined to the opening half, when a heftier defeat than this might have been expected. The English were big and strong, and abandoned their fancy wing back game and knocked it high at us in a way which - as Brian Kerr more or less admitted back in Dublin a couple of weeks ago - our youngsters really don't appreciate.

Ireland coped well. Richard Dunne in the centre was especially solid, while the rest of the defence held their own in difficult circumstances.

Upfield it was a different story, though, with size being made to matter every time the Irish played it out of their own half.

Constantly under pressure and rarely winning possession within 40 yards of their opposition's goal, players like Barry Quinn and Ger Crossley were simply incapable of getting Robbie Keane and Liam George into strong positions. Matters weren't helped when the strikers dropped back wide to pick up possession, as the English full-backs, Everton's Michael Ball and Luke Young of Spurs, were amongst their best players on the pitch.

The arrival of Ronnie O'Brien for the wonderfully talented but even more wondrously lightweight Richie Partridge at half-time began to shift the balance. Within eight minutes, Alan Quinn was on too and the pendulum had swung completely.

Five minutes later Kerr's side might well have edged their noses in front, when almost half of the team linked up for what was possibly the move of the match before Crossley played the ball nicely into O'Brien's path at the far side of the box. But the 19-year-old Middlesbrough player attempted a volley when his head looked like the more promising point of contact.

It wasn't the closest the team came to scoring: Barry Quinn fired just wide, George drew a decent save from Steven Simonsen, and then the Luton striker tried to turn in Keane's header only to be thwarted by Lee Matthews, the English striker, who headed off the line.

There was, during this period, the odd warning, though most still came in the form of set pieces. Twice England were just off the mark in the space of a minute midway through the half, and they still looked the fresher of the sides when it came to moving the ball forward at speed.

Nevertheless, the goal came as a shock. George conceded a free he needn't have wide on one side and it was quickly taken to send the ball out towards the left. David Dunn headed the queue to take it goalwards and, having beaten Thomas Heary to the line, the Blackburn Rovers midfielder cut it back well for Smith who met it solidly in the centre, but who was nevertheless fortunate to see his shot slip through the legs of the diving Alex O'Reilly. In the minutes that remained George really should have scored at one end while Paolo Vernazza might have done a lot better at the other. But neither managed to alter a scoreline that leaves Ireland certain of a place in next year's World Championships in Nigeria, and almost as sure of a crack at third place. But they need Croatia to do on Thursday what they couldn't last night if Ireland's week in Cyprus is to end on any note higher than that.

Rep Of Ireland: O'Reilly (West Ham); Heary (Huddersfield), Dunne (Everton), Doherty (Luton), Doyle (St Patrick's Athletic); Crossley (Celtic), B Quinn (Coventry), McPhail (Leeds), Partridge (Liverpool); George (Luton), Keane (Wolves). Subs: O'Brien (Middlesbrough) for Partridge (halftime), A Quinn (Sheffield Wednesday) for McPhail (53 mins), Gavin (Middlesbrough) for Crossley (87 mins).

England: Simonsen (Tranmere); Young (Spurs), Woodgate (Leeds), Upson (Arsenal), Ball (Everton); Ormorod (Middlesbrough), Cooper (Notts Forest), Dunn (Blackburn), Johnson (Crewe); Smith (Leeds), Matthews (Leeds). Subs: Vernazza (Arsenal) for Cooper (half-time), Griffin (Newcastle) for Ormorod (64 mins), Fenton (Manchester City) for Upson (77 mins).

Referee: JW Wegereef (Netherlands).