Soccer/Republic of Ireland 1 Cyprus 1:In the stands there was a variation on the old half-full, half-empty debate at Croke Park last night.

As the Republic of Ireland embarked on another night of painful misadventure against the Cypriots Croke Park was, the FAI might argue, half full. By the time Steve Finnan scored in the dying seconds of injury-time to salvage a draw for the home side enough of its supporters had left, it was most definitely half empty.

On the pitch there was nothing that might generate optimism as the Republic stumbled through another depressing 90 minutes against a team that, despite its supposedly lowly status, created the bulk of the game's clear chances and, for spells, even managed to play better football.

Afterwards Steve Staunton insisted once more he would stay on in his job but the resilience of the FAI may yet crumble as the wave of reflected criticism that is sure to come their way hits home.

The manager did not try to pass this one off as a decent performance. He admitted the crowd had been within their rights to boo at the end. He noted, with justification, the players had failed to perform. But Staunton's team selection had clearly been a gamble and nothing, from the early stages of the first half on, suggested it was going to pay off.

Obliged to change the side that performed creditably at the weekend, he managed, just as he had last year in Nicosia, to get the balance in midfield all wrong, a problem compounded, as also happened a year ago, by a succession of defensive errors.

Andy Keogh was retained despite a quiet night on Saturday, Joey O'Brien switched to central midfield despite the fact almost all of his senior club football has been at right back and Kevin Kilbane replaced Stephen Kelly at left back despite only having featured there for Wigan since the start of the current campaign.

The manager's options were not ideal and none of his calls were, individually, all that surprising but critically, the effect was to leave himself with just one player across the middle, Andy Reid, in possession of more than a handful of caps.

It was bold stuff and had it paid off then Staunton might even have ended up looking fairly clever but none of the three relative novices played well. Keogh looked as incapable as ever of going past his man and delivering a decent cross, O'Brien was either out of sorts or feeling out of place and Stephen Hunt, after a relatively bright start, repeatedly gave away possession over the course of the first 45 minutes.

The Reading midfielder's worst offence came a minute or so after the break when he tried to play the ball as he turned inside a challenge rather than settling for a safer option. Marios Nicolau suddenly found himself breaking into open space and towards the Irish goal with two team-mates to his right. Fortunately for the Irish he rashly chose to attempt a long-range lob - which he misdirected.

Incredibly, it wasn't the first time the Cypriots had come close to taking the lead. With just over half an hour gone O'Brien had conceded a free close to the half-way line which Nicolau took quickly to release Yiasoumis Yiasoumi. The Irish defence had barely cranked into first gear as Shay Given rushed to stop with his feet what was a poor finish.

In reply, the home side could only muster a glancing header by Robbie Keane that Antonis Giorgallides pushed wide. The cross was provided by Finnan and the Cypriots' failure to defend it provided evidence the locals would be rewarded if only they could get decent balls into the box.

With nothing coming from the wings, Reid seemed Ireland's only other hope but his passing was a little more haphazard than it had been against the Germans. Still, he did provide Hunt and Keogh with the opportunity to do better and produced a couple of set-piece balls that threw up half chances around the six-yard box.

Predictably, there were boos at half-time for the Republic but they were louder and more resolute four minutes after the restart when Marinos Satsias casually carved a way between the Irish centre halves for Cypriot skipper Ioannis Okkas who slipped a chipped shot past the oncoming Given only to see it come back off the foot of the right-hand post.

Any prospect of it being a good night for Staunton or his men was gone by that point but there lingered a hope they might avoid it turning into another major embarrassment. Liam Miller's arrival for O'Brien promised some improvement in midfield while the manager finally replaced Keogh with Aiden McGeady just after the hour mark but there were only sporadic signs Ireland might spring into life. All the while, though, the home side looked vulnerable at the back.

They conceded the game's first goal 10 minutes from time. Christakis Maragkos fed the ball out to the right for Constantinos Charalambides whose cross evaded Kilbane's poor attempt to block before finding Stelios Okkarides. He was surrounded by three Irishmen but none of them was close enough to make a meaningful attempt to prevent him heading home from five yards.

After that the home side's desperation increased as they chased an equaliser in order to avoid utter humiliation for a second time at the hands of the Cypriots. Finnan went close as things moved into added time when his low shot was deflected wide. He left nothing to chance in the final few seconds as he powered home the loose ball after McGeady's cross from the left headed directly into his path.

The Finnish referee sent Marios Elia off before the restart and blew up immediately afterwards. The Irish had salvaged something from a terribly poor night with the last kick of the game. Significantly, though, the flaws had all been there to see again and even more importantly, this time it wasn't a win.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND:Given (Newcastle United); Finnan (Liverpool), McShane (Sunderland), O'Shea (Manchester United), Kilbane (Wigan Athletic); Keogh (Wolverhampton Wanderers), J O'Brien (Bolton Wanderers), Reid (Charlton Athletic), Hunt (Reading); Doyle (Reading), Keane (Tottenham Hotspur). Subs: Miller (Sunderland) for O'Brien (half-time), McGeady (Celtic) for Keogh (63 mins), Murphy (Sunderland) for Hunt (75 mins).

CYPRUS:Giorgallides; Elia, Okkarides, Christou, Garpozis; Charalambides, Satsias, Nicolau, Makridis; Okkas; Yiasoumi. Subs: Maragkos for Satsias (69 mins), Michail for Yiasoumi (73 mins), Theofilou for Makridis (86 mins).

Referee: M Vuorela(Finland).