23 IRELAND FREEZE IN ENDGAME

Alaba’s late strike leaves Trap and his players out in the cold

HIS scream of ‘No!’ i nto the f reezing Dublin night may be the abiding image of t he Giovanni Trapattoni reign. But the question is still why?

A cruel goal from David Alaba denied the Republic of Ireland the four-point return that would have made this a healthy week. Instead, with Ireland sitting fourth in Group C now and devastated by that late blow, they look further away from Brazil than at any other time.

As the entire Austrian bench celebrated on the pitch, and in front of their jubilant supporters, fingers were being pointed in the Irish team.

The shot had taken a cruel touch off substitute Sean St Ledger to deceive David Forde but no one had closed Bayern Munich man Alaba down. The goal was coming and Ireland, and Trapattoni, could do nothing about it.

It was accidental hero Jon Walters who had earlier delivered a two-goal lifeline. As the last week is assessed, it is worth remembering Walters was thrust into a role on the right of midfield by the manager as an afterthought thanks to Glenn Whelan’s injury in Stockholm, and Trapattoni’s unfair assessment of Robbie Brady’s state of mind.

Walters still managed to score two valuable goals which looked to have kept Ireland afloat in the race for second place.

Despite the success of Friday’s goalless draw in Sweden, Ireland made an unexpectedly nervy start — and an even worse finish — and almost conceded after two minutes to a speculative effort from Alaba.

He launched a curling left foot free-kick after Zlatko Junuzovic had been brought down midway inside the Irish half and his awkward, bouncing effort flew just wide of Forde’s post with the Millwall keeper at full stretch.

That bright start by Marcel Koller’s side was an early warning for Ireland, who were behind in the 11th minute when Ciaran Clark’s naivety was cruelly punished by Junuzovic and Martin Harnik, just as it had been by Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez last month.

Just as he did for his club against Manchester City, the Aston Villa defender dithered 20 yards from his own penalty area and Junuzovic stole the ball f rom him and powered through to the edge of the area. That forced John O’Shea towards the ball, leaving Harnik unmarked and from Junuzovic’s simple square pass, Harnik had an easy task to prod the ball under Forde’s body, despite James McCarthy’s late, desperate challenge.

The one benefit of conceding the opening goal of the night was that it forced Trapattoni’s side to put the visitors on the back foot.

It took 11 minutes to deliver an equaliser and it came from the penalty spot after West Ham defender Emanuel Pogatetz had brought down Shane Long pointlessly as the pair chased a loose ball near the by-line.

West Brom striker Long, who had Pogatetz in various states all night with his quick thinking, showed a flash of brilliance to flick the ball from his feet before he was unseated by Pogatetz’s daft sliding tackle.

Walters may have missed a couple of penalties for Stoke this season, but he smashed his last one at Newcastle home and he made no mistake against Heinz Linder, hammering the ball to his right as the Austria keeper dived left.

The most obvious beneficiary of the fresh attacking policy was Sunderland winger James McClean, who was given the licence to get at Austrian full back Gyorgy Garics.

But it was a case of try, try and try again from the former Derry City midfielder. Three times McClean delivered dangerous low crosses on the run: one led to a collision between defender Pogatetz and keeper Linder but Ireland were unable to seize on the confusion. And when one fell to Glenn Whelan on the edge of the area, the recalled midfielder fell just as he was set to shoot.

The most productive McClean run of the first half came after Conor Sammon’s presence won McClean possession in the area.

He drilled in another low centre which fell at the feet of Long. With his back t o goal t he striker managed a firm backheel that surprised Linder but the ball cannoned back off the post to safety.

Four times they showed the agonising moment on the Aviva big screen. And every time it produced an agonising groan from the crowd, with arguably the loudest coming from Trapattoni himself.

But Walters made no mistake in the dying seconds of the first half. Only a minute after a poor McClean corner from the left had been cleared, Whelan delivered a rightfoot cross to the far post and the Stoke man emerged from the melee to power a header just inside the post for his fourth Irish goal.

Ireland were perhaps fortunate to have 11 men by the end of the first period after McCarthy’s diving tackle on Junuzovic, which resulted i n the Austrian’s 25th- minute withdrawal.

The Wigan midfielder may have been shown a yellow card which rules him out of the June qualifier at home to Faroe Islands, but he was lucky referee Marijo Strahonja didn’t show him a red.

That defiant end to the first half certainly quietened an impressive red-and-white following during the break and they were nearly silenced completely within seconds of the restart when McClean’s rising leftfooted free kick flew into the sidenetting. Half the crowd thought it was in and Linder clearly wasn’t certain.

But the visitors and t heir supporters got some encouragement eight minutes later when Harnik attempted an ambitious shot on the turn which required a smart save from Forde.

By now the Austrian’s possession was relentless. Garics was next with a tricky bouncing shot but that flew wide.

Koller felt his side should have had a penalty on the hour when Pogatetz fell in a heap in the corner but Ireland managed to keep Austria at bay and their coach sent on Marc Janko for the ineffective Philipp Hosiner.

Ireland had their chances also, particularly from set pieces.

Before Marc Wilson nodded a McClean cross wide, Aleksandar Dragovic appeared to get the last touch through the crowd to another McClean teaser, forcing an excellent one-handed save from Linder.

It wouldn’t be an Ireland performance at the Aviva if it lacked tension. And although Alaba had more freedom than anyone of a green persuasion was comfortable with, and Villa striker Andreas Weimann looked a nuisance, Ireland looked to have held on.

Again that was largely thanks to the safe hands of Forde, who made repeated important aerial saves, especially when he grabbed a header from Harnik in the final minute of normal time.

But when Alaba’s injury-time drive came he was helpless. So were Ireland, and their manager.