Ireland's ambitions in the UEFA U19 Championships were brought to an abrupt end in the northern Serbian town of Kula this afternoon when they could only manage a 1-1 draw with Albania. The result is a huge disappointment for manager, Sean McCaffrey and his players and they will now meet hosts Serbia & Montenegro in their final match on Friday afternoon with only pride to play for.

McCaffrey made several changes to the starting team following the opening game defeat to Poland with Paul McShane and Joey O'Brien returning from suspension to replace Darren O'Dea and Michael Collins.
In other changes, James Hand, Ian Morris and Jonathan Hayes came in to the starting lineup and surprisingly, goalkeeper Darren Randolph was replaced by Millwall's Terry Masterson.

Ireland dominated possession throughout the entire game and should have won handsomely against a very limited Albania. The first opening arrived on 11 minutes when a Stephen Foley free kick from the right was met by the head of Ian Morris. His header was weak but was fumbled by the keeper but the inrushing McShane headed the rebound over the bar.

Ireland continued to control matters and two further free kicks taken by Aston Villa's Foley were again met by Morris who on both occasions failed to get sufficient direction and power on his efforts. Several other scoring opportunities presented themselves during the remainder of the half but shots from O'Brien, Foley, Hayes and O'Brien again all missed the target.

The second half opened in similiar fashion to the first with Ireland constantly pressing forward but no clear chances presented themselves.
On 55 minutes, Andy Keogh of Scunthorpe United replaced Celtic's Diarmuid O'Carroll up front. Three minutes later, disaster struck when an Irish attack broke down and the ball was pumped forward by an Albanian defender towards their central striker who outpaced Hand and McStay and struck a low hard shot through the grasp of Masterson.

Ireland regroupedand continued to attack the Albanian rearguard with Reading's Jonathan Hayes very unlucky when his shot across the keeper struck the far post and stayed out.Better fortune ensued on 78 minutes whenAndy Keogh broke down the left and from his cross the inrushing Ian Morris of Leeds Unitedheaded home the equaliser.

Immediately afterwards, Ireland replaced full back James Hand with another striker in Shane Long of Cork City. With nine minutes to go ,some neat build up play down the left presented Keogh with a golden opportunity but he blazed over. In the final minute of the game,controvesy reigned when an Irish free kick from the left eluded the first line of defenders and fell to Long wide on the right. He fired in a powerful shot which struck the keeper and fell kindly to Keogh who netted. The referee pointed to the centre circle but Irish euphoria was shattered when the referee changed his mind on the advice of his assistent who belatedly flagged for offside.

The results of the opening games, both of which were eminently winnable, is a huge disappointment and the players really must make every effort to restore some pride to the nation and themselves when they face Serbia & Montenegro,who defeated Poland 2-1 to win the Group this evening, on Friday next.

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Serbia	2	2	0	0	9	2	6
Poland	2	1	0	1	2	2	3
Ireland	2	0	1	1	1	2	1
Albania	2	0	1	1	2	8	1