The second worst defeat in Irish under-21 footballing history finally killed off any lingering question of Ian Evans's team making the play-offs for the Olympics yesterday.
But what has been a bad week for the Irish at this level continues to be overshadowed by the personal experience of Richard Dunne who, having gone some way towards gifting the Yugoslavs their opener on Wednesday, was sent off in this game for taking a reckless kick at an opponent who had slipped goalside of him just before half-time.
Ireland's problems started much earlier than that, though. Stephen McPhail was carried out of the game after just six minutes with severely damaged ankle ligaments and goals from Renato Pilipovic, Tomo Sokota and Ivan Mikic had effectively ended the contest before the 25th minute had been completed.
Briefly, though, the visiting side seemed to get some kind of grip on the task facing them and when Colin Hawkins rose high to head home his second goal at this level there appeared, for a few moments at least, to be the outside chance of a fightback.
That passed with Dunne's dismissal and while Martin Rowlands forced a decent save from the Croatian goalkeeper in first half injury time, it was Alex O'Reilly, whose failure to hold a straightforward shot had led directly to the third, who was the more likely to be beaten again.
The home side, who can now only be deprived of first place in the group if Yugoslavia win their remaining three matches by quite a few goals, looked happy to settle for the margin, however, even if the local supporters made it clear that they expected their players to push on and extend the lead.
Many gave up on the wait over the course of the second period but those who persevered despite the rain and cold were rewarded in the closing minutes when substitute Bosko Balaban added two more in as many minutes with the replacement striker's second, slipped home after a winding run in from the left and slipped past O'Reilly and a defender, probably the goal of the game.
Croatia U-21: Pletikosa, Samboleuf, Semic, Miladin, Vranjes, Smoje, Pilipovic, Sokota (Tomic 81), Mikic (Dalaban 72), Leko (Viskovic 52), Deramja. Subs Not Used: Cavlina, Vejic, Vrajkovic, Franja. Booked: Vranjes. Goals: Pilipovic 12, Sokota 21, Mikic 23, Dalaban 88, 90.
Rep Of Ireland U-21: O'Reilly, Boxall, Ryan, Worrell, Hawkins, Dunne, McPhail (Rowlands 6), O'Brien, Conlon (Clare 56), Fenn, Quinn (Mahon 73). Subs Not Used: Cummins, O'Connor, Maybury, Lee. Sent Off: Dunne (42). Goals: Hawkins 40.
Referee: Leif Sundell (Sweden).
