O’Neill’s hit by Kolarov blow

ALEKSANDAR KOLAROV kicked a massive hole in the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup dream in Dublin last night.

Former Manchester City defender Kolarov scored the only goal of the night to stretch Serbia’s lead over the Irish at the top of Group D to five points with two games left.

And the Irish are now down to third in the table, a point behind Wales, who won in Moldova.

Martin O’Neill’s men desperately needed a win after Saturday’s dire 1-1 draw in Georgia.

But they had a strike denied after only 11 minutes when Shane Duffy was ruled offside after heading home from a short corner.

Keeper Darren Randolph came to Ireland’s rescue 10 minutes before the break when he dived to keep out a rasping shot from Newcastle striker Aleksandar Mitrovic.

Middlesbrough shot-stopper Randolph saved well again a minute into the second half when he went down to keep out a shot from Dusan Tadic.

But 10 minutes into the half Kolarov silenced the Aviva Stadium with the only goal.

He charged into the box to collect a Filip Kostic pass and hammered in a shot off the crossbar.

The Irish had a ray of hope when Nikola Maksimovic was sent off for scything down Daryl Murphy when he was on goal after 69 minutes.

But they couldn’t take advantage of the extra man.