Republic of Ireland 2 (Phillips 31, Armstrong 47) Italy 2 (Gnonto 45+1 pen, 90+6)
The Republic of Ireland under-21s experienced the cruelty of international football from a 96th-minute Italian equaliser but Jim Crawford believes the extent of the heartbreak is a marker of his side’s progress.
Wilfried Gnonto’s deflected header robbed the Boys in Green of three thoroughly deserved points at a packed Turner’s Cross that would’ve seen them leap to the top of their European qualifying group.
The Azzurrini hadn’t conceded a goal in their first four games but they were plundered for two by Killian Phillips and Sinclair Armstrong in a brilliantly executed tactical performance.
Each time, however, Leeds United hitman Gnonto levelled, first from a penalty and then that header to leave the 6,157 crowd deflated.
“The boys are on the floor. It’s a tough one to take,” said Crawford. “If you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, the boys are on the floor after drawing 2-2 with Italy who are European giants. That’s how far this group have come. It is a bitter blow. That is how cruel football can be at times.”
An on-field scuffle after the final whistle left a sour aftertaste, with the referee booking players from both sides.
“These things happen,” said Crawford, who clarified it was sparked by an Italian taunt. “It’s an injury-time equaliser and emotions are high. It happened but I don’t think it was anything sinister. It was just handbags really.”
The equaliser came 20 seconds beyond the five added minutes that were signalled but the fourth official told Crawford his two stoppage-time substitutions accounted for the extra minute.
The Ireland boss did take issue with a tackle on Phillips in the build-up, though.
“I thought it was a foul on Killian before they scored. I would like to see it again but that was what I was shouting,” he said. “We didn’t get the free and if you are being blunt, we got one point from two games…We left two behind us there tonight and against Norway, we were comfortable winning 2-1.
“It is a tough one to take because the boys bought into everything we said.”
The night still finished with Ireland climbing a place into second in Group A due to Norway’s 2-0 loss to Turkey. They lie just one point behind the Italians with a wait until March for their next qualifier against San Marino.
“We’re halfway through the campaign and I’ve said to the players that from March on we’ll hit the ground running,” said Crawford. “There’s no doubt about it, we’ll give everything we can to be the first under-21s team to qualify for the European Championships.”
Armstrong departed to a standing ovation after a performance in which he scored once and created the other with a blistering run in the 31st minute. It was started by Phillips’ full-blooded tackle to win a goal kick and finished by the same man as Ireland went from back to front in a silky move.
A third penalty conceded in four games would cost Ireland in first-half stoppage time, even if this one owed more to misfortune than the others. Gnonto’s shot deflected off of Sam Curtis and Bosun Lawal handled the ball. The striker showed his experience earned from 13 senior caps to send Josh Keeley the wrong way.
The worried Italians withdrew their other striker at half-time in a defensive switch but within two minutes Ireland had regained their lead.
Seán Grehan’s in-swinging cross almost found the net but when it came back off the far post, Armstrong was on hand to knee the ball home.
Aidomo Emakhu was denied the clincher before Gnonto drilled the post in the final minute of normal time and Keeley seized upon Mattia Zanotti’s rebound before it crossed the line.
But Ireland couldn’t hold out in the cruellest of finales.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: J Keeley; S Grehan, B Lawal, A García MacNulty, S Curtis, M Healy, B Adeeko, K Philips, S Roughan (O Adaramola 90+1); A Emakhu (A Murphy 90+4), S Armstrong (J Kenny 82).
ITALY: S Desplanches; M Zanotti, D Coppola, L Pirola, R Calafiori (R Turricchia 83); E Bove, M Prati, C N’Dour (L Koleosho 56); G Fabbian (G Ambrosino 76); P Esposito (C Casadei h-t), W Gnonto.
Referee: L Tschudi (SUI).
