Republic of Ireland 1 Belarus 2

History has taught us that tournament send-offs do not always got to plan but Belarus bursting Ireland's balloons at Turner's Cross still came as something of a surprise. That Martin O'Neill's men wanted to avoid defeat was entirely apparent over the closing stages of a game that got quicker and increasingly urgent as the night wore on, but after Stephen Ward pulled one back for the locals 19 minutes from time the equaliser required simply couldn't be found.

The motivation for most of those out on the pitch was clear. O’Neill said before the start that barring injuries he pretty much knew his squad but those picked to start could not be sure. In the end, those who participated and made the final cut might take from that that they were already assured of their places for nobody came from nowhere to stake a late claim at the Cross.

It wasn’t all bad from a slightly second string Irish side; not at all, but against a Belarus side that had given Northern Ireland very little trouble a few days ago, it wasn’t great either. Ireland laboured their way through the attacking side of things in front of a crowd of 7,200 until the manager sent on reinforcements. When they had created chances up to that point Daryl Murphy - not entirely surprisingly given that he hadn’t played in a couple of months - looked rusty and somewhat off the pace.

Darron Gibson looked to be in need of a very big performance and started as though he fully intended to deliver one but after his two full-backs fluffed his early attempts to spray the ball about, the Everton midfielder’s passing let him down badly. Frustrated, it seemed, by the lack of movement in front of him, he became far more conservative but it never really got better for him.

Beside him, David Meyler did brightly enough until conceding possession for the first Belarus goal and when the a fortuitous rebound off the referee at a set piece gave the Corkman an opening on goal, his improvised shot was straight at the goalkeeper who gathered quite comfortably.

The Irish had some good spells of possession and both full-backs got forward well but there was little enough to trouble Siarhei Chernik over the course of the opening half with Jeff Hendrick, James McClean and Aiden McGeady all looking to pose a threat but never quite managing it with a few half chances that came their way.

Defensively, things looked better for a bit but the Belarusians, it turned out, were fairly capable on the break and after Ihar Stasevich had set up Mikhail Gordeichuk for a well taken opening goal there were a handful of other scares.

The manner of their second rather put a dampener on Cyrus Christie's night for the young right back had more consistently impressive than anyone around him until that point. He was badly caught out, though, just over an hour in by the interchange of passes that led to Maksim Valadzko cutting inside then striking a shot that took a deflection off Richard Keogh before rolling in off the far post.

At that point, O’Neill started to throw on replacements and both Shane Long and Wes Hoolahan made particular impacts. Long did especially well to tee up the goal for Ward although, to be fair, the left back put it away rather well. Over the tail end of the game, all were involved in the pursuit of the goal that would have rescued a draw but despite some frantic action around the Belarus area, they couldn’t quite make the breakthough.

For those players still unsure of their fate there then followed an anxious wait but for at least one man, the news was already bad. Harry Arter left the camp yesterday afternoon in order to return home after a negative assessment of the thigh strain he sustained in training on Thursday.

It must have been heartbreaking for the midfielder who had made no secret of his desperation to make the squad but O’Neill confirmed before kick-off that the player had already returned “to get confirmation” of the injury.

Hopefully he can take some consolation from the fact that he came so close and would appear to have a future with Ireland after the summer. Kevin Doyle can hardly be sure having been left in the America by O’Neill and the striker tweeted that he was on a team hike up in the Rockies with Colorado Rapids team mates but “would’ve preferred a day out in Turners Cross.”

Robbie Keane, meanwhile, had to settle for a place in the stand for the game but the sense seemed to be that he would make the 23 long list with the FAI potentially having to argue to be allowed replace him in the event that his calf injury does not clear up. O’Neill, in any case, seemed positive, observing: “He’s improving, he’s quick healer, he’s captain of the side and we would like him there in France if at all possible.”

Republic of Ireland: Given (Stoke City); Christie (Derby County), Keogh (Derby County), Clark (Aston Villa), Ward (Burnley); Hendrick (Derby County), Gibson (Everton), Meyler (Hull City), McGeady (Sheffield Wednesday), McClean (West Brom), Murphy (Ipswich Town). Subs: Hoolahan (Norwich City) for Gibson and Long (Southamton) for Murphy (68 mins), Forde (Millwall) for Given (71 mins), O'Dowda (Oxford United) for McGeady and O'Kane for Meyler (75 mins), McGoldrick (Ipswich Town) for McClean.

Belarus: Chernik; Paliakov, Martynovich, Sivakov, Valadzko; Gordeichuk, Kisliak, Korzun, Stasevich; Hleb; Yanush. Subs: Palitsevich for Gordeichuk (77 mins), Krivets for Hleb (90 mins), Niakhaichyk for Stasevich (90 mins).

Referee: D Jakimovski (FYR Macedonia).