Republic of Ireland 1
Lithuania 0
Troy Parrott spared Ireland’s blushes as he rifled home with the final kick of the game to earn a slender 1-0 win over Lithuania.
It was fifth time lucky for Stephen Kenny’s side, who had seen four attempts chalked off for offside during the game.
That statistic - and the 18 other shots from which Ireland failed to find the net - tells the story of a performance that was nearly, but never quite fully, there.
Ireland dominated the ball as expected, attempting an impressive 707 passes over the game, against a side happy to sit back and defend in numbers.
And that very nearly turned out to be good enough as goalkeeper Dziugas Bartkas pulled off a string of second half saves, including stunning stops from John Egan and Parrott.
His luck ran out in the seventh minute of injury time with Parrott’s rocket - and, ironically, the game would have been long over if he hadn’t spent two minutes of it supposedly injured.
The roar as the ball hit the net was as much relief as it was astonishment at what was a wonderful finish from a striker finally starting to deliver on his promise.
He was given a hero’s reception in the singing section at full time - as was another emerging star in Chiedozie Ogbene - having contributed busily after replacing Will Keane on the hour.
Keane struggled to get into the game in the middle of a front three also containing Ogbene and Callum Robinson, who had a rare off-day in green.
Ireland had the ball in the net inside eight minutes as Robinson crossed low for Ogbene to smash in but replies showed the former had strayed offside.
Ryan Manning smashed over from a free kick routine, while Robinson and Keane both saw efforts clear the crossbar.
It didn’t get much better after the break except the volume of disallowed goals increased, Robinson offiside and in the keeper’s eyeline as Hourihane found the net.
Bartkas saved well with his foot after Matt Doherty had weaved and shimmied into the box, while a rare half-chance for Lithuania saw John Egan turn Edgaras Utkus’ shot wide.
Parrott’s delicious disguised pass deserved a goal as James McClean found Ogbene but, again, the assist-maker had gone too soon.
And when Bartkas pulled off a stunning save to keep out what looked sure to be the winner, somehow getting down to stop Egan’s bullet header hitting the bottom corner of the net.
Somehow, there was still time for another disallowed goal as Scott Horgan was this time called back for offside after latching onto a ball over the top.
Bartkas pulled out another acrobatic save to tip over Parrott’s goalbound volley but, having channelled Dudu Aouate after staying down at a corner, he was beaten in extra injury time.
Parrott picked up the ball from a cleared cross. This time the ball found the net, and met the linesman’s approval, as he smashed a 20-yard volley past Bartkas.
There may only have been 30,000 at the game - and many of them from Lithuania - but the roar that followed was as loud as any Lansdowne has heard.
Republic of Ireland: Caoimhín Kelleher; Nathan Collins, John Egan, Dara O’Shea (James McClean 63); Matt Doherty, Conor Hourihane, Alan Browne (Jeff Hendrick 82), Ryan Manning; Chiedozie Ogbene (Jason Knight 82), Callum Robinson (Scott Hogan 77), Will Keane (Troy Parrott 63).
Lithuania: Dziugas Bartkas; Rolandas Baravykas, Benas Satkus, Linas Klimavicius, Egidijus Vaitkunas; Justas Lasickas (Pijus Sirvys 82), Vykintas Slivka, Edgaras Utkus, Titas Milasius (Donatas Kazlauskas 46); Fedor Cernych (Gratas Sirgedas 87), Augustinas Klimavicius (Ignas Kurizikas 61).
Attendance: 30,686.
Referee: Bram Van Driessche (Belgium).
