TO PLAY so well and to get so little Mick McCarthy's Irish team may have got what they deserved from Skopje, but last night's events in Bucharest proved you don't always get what you deserve in this life or in this game.

To redeem some pride will provide a modicum of comfort in the quiet moments ahead over the next few days, but as the players trailed from the dressing room it mattered little.

"We were the better team," lamented Andy Townsend. "The goal was a good strike. Just disappointed really. I think had the penalty gone in it would have been a different game. But we're not going to criticise Roy in any way, shape or form. He was brave enough to put his head on the block."

Some sustenance though. "That's a lot more like it. Obviously they're skating the group, but that's down to us really. I think we've let ourselves down previously. All we can do now is look forward and try to recover the situation by giving ourselves a lifeline of second place.

"I just feel that we lost a little bit of the heart behind us from everyone after the last time," said Townsend. "I sincerely hope that they realise we still want to give it our all and everybody's going to do everything possible to get us back on the right road."

It was all so much like the under 21 match it was uncanny. Better team, better chances the shot count was 13-9 (9-5 on target) in Ireland's favour and it was 9-3 on corners. Yet the only tally that counts is the score line and Romania have a knack of winning 1-0 without apparently playing well. They can always conjure a goal from some where and once ahead, they know how to defend it, absorb pressure and play on the break.

"To be honest with you I think there was a lot of lads who played bloody well out there," added Townsend. "When you consider lads like Dave Connolly. Some of these players aren't even in their teams at their clubs. Against the best team in the group, to play like they did was a credit to them. They're really going to benefit from the experience, but, as I say, there's nothing gained from tonight other than our pride back. Nothing more than that."

The policy of abandoning the wing back system and double manning the flanks worked a treat. The Romanians didn't manufacture one cross from the byeline all night. If there was a blip though, perhaps Ireland sometimes retreated on masse to within 35 or 40 yards of their goal in the first period.

Kenny Cunningham admitted.

"Maybe we stood off them and showed them a little bit too much respect in the first half. They pass the ball very well. But in the second half we confronted them further on up the pitch, made them kick a few balls away and it made it a bit more of a battle" and Chelsea full back Dan Petrescu said. "Ireland deserve to draw this game. I think the Irish play maybe their best game in this qualification. They put a lot of pressure against us and they deserve maybe more than this 1-0 against. Everybody was very surprised because we were expecting another team from the Irish. They play four or five new players, but I think they did very well."

Of some consolation was Petrescu's rating. "I think they (Ireland) are going to be second at the end of the qualification."

Like Cunningham, the surprise selection of Connolly was also spot on, as he had the mobility and anticipation which a taller target man doesn't have for the lone striker's role. The defeat seemed almost to have aged Connolly, not looking nearly so boyish after a strikingly mature performance a week after playing for Watford reserves against Swansea reserves.

Reflecting on his own chance that could so easily have re-written the entire match plot, Connolly said. "He (Munteanu) tried to pass it back to the keeper and it came to me. I done everything right really. I hit it low and it was just going in between the keeper's leg. He was lucky really. It just seemed to clip his heel. Nine times out of 10, they're the ones that go in.

Of the incident where he was hit on the head, Ray Houghton said. I didn't really know. Something Just hit me on the head and I later found out it was a coin. It was a silly incident. I felt okay and got up, but then felt a bit dizzy, realised I had a bump, and a small cut, but I'm okay now.

So what can the players take from this? "A lot of heart I think," said Cunningham. "Understandably, very flat in the dressing room. When you put in a performance like that, it's heart wrenching not to take anything from the game. But we've got to console ourselves that the performance was good. We're heading in the right direction and we've got to carry this form into the remainder of our group games.