The Republic of Ireland have been beaten 3-1 by Croatia in their opening Euro 2012 Group C match at the Municipal Stadium in Poznan.
Giovanni Trapattoni's side got off to the worst possible start when Mario Mandzukic was on hand to head in after only two minutes to put Croatia in front.
Both sides failed to make much of an impact in front of goal after that until Sean St Ledger shook off Vedran Corluka to head in Aiden McGeady's free kick on 18 minutes.
Shay Given was the busier of the two goalkeepers in the opening half and had to get down low to push away Ivan Perisic's fizzing drive.
The Irish veteran was there again towards the end of the 45 minutes as he gathered Luka Modric's effort.
With the half-time whistle fast approaching, Croatia regained the advantage when Nikica Jelavic poked in after Ireland had failed to clear their lines.
The second half started similarly to the first as Croatia extended their lead in the first few minutes when Mandzukic's header came back off the post before hitting the unfortunate Given and going in.
Ireland were rightly claiming for a penalty on the hour as Gordon Schildenfeld went into the back of Robbie Keane inside the area. However, the referee quickly waved away the appeals.
As Trapattoni's men pushed forward to get themselves back into the match, Croatia were able to exploit the spaces and almost went further ahead when Ivan Rakitic's sweeping drive went narrowly wide of Given's goal.
Keith Andrews almost pulled a goal back with 10 minutes to play, but he fired just wide from the edge of the box before the midfielder guided his header inches wide from a corner in injury time.
Jack Prescott
