The last time an English youth team came to Tolka Park they romped to a 5-0 win in front of a home crowd that was trying to get used to the idea

Ireland could produce championship winning teams at underage level. Five years on and Stuart Baxter's side, who won thanks to a Ciaran Donnelly goal 18 minutes from time, showed they too know how to send the Dublin public home disappointed.

Ireland manager Seán McCaffrey had insisted his men had nothing to fear and within minutes of the start the people he had been most keen to persuade were showing they were not in the least bit over-awed.

The English just about had the better of the opening exchanges but much of the half belonged to the Republic whose composure when pressing forward would probably have been rewarded with a couple of goals had it been matched by more clinical finishing around the opposition's area.

There was much to admire about the Republic's performance early on with John Fitzgerald's passing out of defence, Stephen Bradley's running on the ball in midfield and Stephen Elliott's movement off it in attack all catching the eye. But then everywhere there was a tenacity about the home side's display that seemed to catch the visitors off guard and Glenn Whelan, Willo Flood, as well as Paul Keegan, also contributed strongly to an impressive team display.

That they found a talented and very well organised English side so hard to really break down despite some good approach work, and the odd misplaced pass by one of the visiting back four, remained a concern.

As the game developed into a more open contest during the second half, however, some gaps started to appear and after Fitzgerald had done enough to prevent Tommy Wright from capitalising on a quick break by Lee Croft at one end Whelan went very close to finding the net with a well-struck shot at the other.

Moments later Whelan was again at the centre of things for the Republic, driving in a low cross from the right that Luke Steele spilt and Andrew Davies did well to clear before Flood had time to react.

By this stage, however, the Irish defenders were coming under more pressure and when John Welsh's high ball into the area was poorly dealt with Donnelly hit the target from 12 yards with enough power to beat Murphy.

To their credit the Irish, even after the loss of Whelan and Bradley, pushed tirelessly for the equaliser that their performance merited but the English defended well over the closing stages and they will head into their game on Wednesday with Slovenia, who beat Switzerland 2-1 yesterday, confident they secure qualification for this summer's finals in Liechtenstein.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Murphy (Leicester City); Deery (Derry City), Ennis (Aston Villa), Fitzgerald (Blackburn Rovers), Brennan (Peterborough United); Flood (Manchester City), Bradley (Arsenal), Whelan (Manchester City), Keegan (Leeds United); Quigley (Millwall), Elliott (Manchester City). Subs: Ryan (Sunderland) for Whelan (77 mins), Yeates (Tottenham Hotspur) for Quigley (80 mins), McCafferty (Charlton Athletic) for Bradley (83 mins).

ENGLAND: Steele (Manchester United); Hoyte (Arsenal), Davies (Middlesbrough), Ridgewell (Aston Villa), Whittingham (Aston Villa); Routledge (Crystal Palace), Welsh (Liverpool), Donnelly (Blackburn Rovers), Downing (Middlesbrough); Croft (Manchester City), Wright (Leicester City). Subs: McKie (Tottenham Hotspur) for Downing (93 mins).

Referee: Per Ivar Staberg (Norway).