Republic of Ireland's preparations for the 2016 European Championships qualifying campaign have got off to a bad start courtesy of a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Turkey in Dublin this evening.
The visitors had the first opening of the match within two minutes as Mevlut Erdinc skipped through the defence to find space to shoot, but his effort was straight at debutant keeper Rob Elliot.
Ireland weathered the early storm from Turkey before getting into the game themselves, and they almost found the opening goal in the seventh minute as Stephen Ward flashed a volley narrowly wide.
They came even closer to taking the lead eight minutes later as Shane Long saw an initial effort saved by Onur Kivrak before a second attempt was cleared off the line.
Turkey took full advantage of that let-off by going up the other end and scoring on the counter moments later as Ahmet Ilhan Ozek was left unmarked in the area to nod home Gokhan Gonul's cross.
Ireland looked for a response before half time but could only test the keeper once more, with James McClean firing a well-struck effort straight at Kivrak.
The visitors doubled their advantage with 15 minutes of the match remaining as once again they hit the hosts on the break, this time Tarik Camdal finishing the move having only just come on as a sub.
Ireland hit back immediately, however, as Wes Hoolahan won the ball back from the restart before sliding a pass through to Jonathan Walters, who placed his effort into the top corner.
The hosts had a glorious chance to level the scores in the 86th minute when Daryl Murphy latched on to McClean's cross, only to direct his header straight at the keeper.
They couldn't find the equaliser in the closing stages, however, as Turkey held out for the victory.
Barney Corkhill
