Ukraine 1 Republic of Ireland 2 Graham Carey held his nerve to score a penalty a minute into stoppage time to give Ireland a dramatic win and every chance of progressing through to the second phase of the UEFA Under-17 Championship qualifiers as they humbled the hosts in the impressive Valery Labonovskiy stadium, writes Paul Buttner.
Half-time substitute Terry Dixon was tumbled off the ball by Stanislav Mykytsey as he chased Donal McDermott's through pass. Despite struggling with a slight thigh strain, Celtic midfielder Carey took the ball and confidently sent Artem Kychak the wrong way.
The win means Ireland are now in pole position to be one of the two qualifiers from the four-team group. A win over Italy (2-1 winners over Latvia yesterday) tomorrow would put Ireland through to the second phase early next year with Saturday's clash with Latvia immaterial.
It really ought to have been so very different, however, as Ukraine should have had the game won by half-time. They missed two sitters and forced a terrific stop from Ireland goalkeeper Shane Redmond before taking the lead on 35 minutes.
Ireland were poor defensively and were finally punished when Oleksandr Volkov stole in behind Garry Breen onto Oleg Mishchenko's cross from the right to head past Redmond.
Remarkably, a dreadful error had Ireland level within a minute from their first shot on goal. Artem Butenin, under no pressure whatsoever, passed the ball straight to Ireland's Tom Lyons to play him straight in on goal. The big ginger-haired Crystal Palace striker accepted the gift and drilled his shot low and hard past Kychak.
"It was a terrific second half," said manager Seán McCaffrey. "We played 4-3-3 in the first half and it didn't suit us. They really stretched us. In fact, they murdered us at times. They missed two sitters and only for Shane Redmond in goal we'd have been two down.
"We were a lot better in the second half, were much more comfortable and we were as good as they were. I'm delighted as it sets the group up nicely for us now."
UKRAINE: Kychak; Mykytsey, Kovalov, Butenin, Dovgyy; Rybkovskyy, Zozylya, Kutsyaba, Mishchenko; Volkov, Pshenychnyy. Subs: Voytenko for Pshenychnyy (56 mins), Doroshenko for Volkov (66 mins), Sakhnevych for Dovgyy (78 mins).
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Redmond (Nottingham Forest); Callaghan (Millwall), Donoghue (Sunderland), Breen (Man City), Fitzgerald (West Ham United); Cahillane (Celtic), Daly (Cherry Orchard), Carey (Celtic); Byrne (Belvedere), Lyons (Crystal Palace), McDermott (Man City). Subs: Dixon (Tottenham Hotspur) for Byrne (half-time), Skinner (Celtic) for Redmond (50 mins), Sheridan (Belvedere) for Lyons (75 mins.).
Referee: Jouni Hietala (Finland).
Ronaldo on defensive
Real Madrid striker Ronaldo has defended his "cockroach" goal celebrations after Alaves president Dimitry Piterman criticised him and two team-mates for behaving like clowns.
Ronaldo, who scored twice in Sunday's 3-0 victory over Alaves, dived to the ground after his goals and lay on his back waving his arms and legs in the air, while his Brazilian compatriots Robinho and Roberto Carlos joined in.
"I want to make it clear that it was just a bit of nonsense between friends and we never wanted to offend anyone or insult the opposition fans," Ronaldo said yesterday.
The celebration was slammed by Piterman at a news conference on Monday.
"It may have been funny for them to pretend to be cockroaches dressed in white, but they looked ridiculous," he said. "If they were Alaves players I would have their heads examined. They acted like circus clowns."
Ronaldo said Piterman, who has had several run-ins with soccer authorities and has appeared naked on the cover of a popular weekly magazine in Spain, was not one to give lessons about how to behave.
"He is entitled to his opinion, but I don't think what I did was that bad," he said. "I only concentrate on my job which is to play, score goals and celebrate them. He didn't like it, but he's hardly the ideal person to start criticising and calling me, Roberto and Robinho clowns.
"The idea came from two friends who dared me to do it if I scored. I told them that if I did it they would have to dine out with me at a restaurant dressed up as women. I've fulfilled my part of the bargain and now they have to fulfil theirs."
Real's win lifted them to third in the table while Alaves slipped to the bottom.
Real host Greek side Olympiakos in the Champions League at the Bernabeu tonight, but Ronaldo will miss the Group F game because of suspension.
Perrin to get warning
Portsmouth manager Alain Perrin will escape with a written warning for his hand-clapping antics at Bolton, although he has already had a dressing down from chairman Milan Mandaric.
The English Football Association are not issuing a statement on the matter after Perrin sarcastically applauded referee Mark Clattenburg for booking Danish defender Brian Priske in the 1-0 defeat.
They will write to Perrin about his future behaviour but there will be no fine or touchline suspension, Clattenburg's decision to send Perrin to the stands deemed adequate punishment.
Sagnol on way out
France defender Willy Sagnol will leave Bayern Munich at the end of the season after rejecting an offer to extend his contract, the German champions said yesterday.
Fifa fine Swiss
World governing body FIFA have fined three national football associations for crowd disturbances during this month's World Cup qualifiers.
FIFA said its disciplinary committee had fined the Swiss football association 50,000 Swiss francs after five supporters invaded the pitch during a match against Israel in Basle on September 3rd.
