European Championship qualifier: San Marino 1 - 2 Ireland

The Republic of Ireland came within eight seconds of suffering the most embarrassing result in their history last night. That was how long remained when Stephen Ireland scrambled in a dramatic winning goal in the fourth minute of injury-time to deny San Marino their first ever European Championship point and spare Steve Staunton the humiliation of presiding over a result that might well have led to his dismissal as Ireland's manager.

Staunton may still have work to do to hold on to his position, with the 1,000 travelling supporters venting their anger in the aftermath of this extraordinary match. There were also calls for John Delaney, the chief executive of the Football Association of Ireland, to stand down as the fans made clear their dismay at his decision to appoint Staunton as manager 13 months ago. This was a truly abject Ireland performance and one which Staunton struggled to defend.

He insisted he would not have resigned had his team become the first ever to drop points to San Marino in a Euro qualifier - the home side had lost their previous 37 matches conceding 168 goals - but the matter might well have been taken out of his hands had the Manchester City midfielder not intervened. "We were looking at Liechtenstein all over again," said Staunton, reflecting on his playing days in Ireland's 0-0 draw under Jack Charlton's management in 1995.

At least on that occasion Ireland did not suffer the ignominy of seeing their defence breached. Staunton was being kind when he described the defending that led to Manuel Marani's late goal as "diabolical". Paul McShane, Richard Dunne and the goalkeeper Wayne Henderson were involved in a mix-up which allowed Marani to roll the ball into an empty net after he had hopefully pursued a long punt.

Several San Marino players collapsed in disbelief. They had lost their first three qualifying games, one of them 5-0 at Lansdowne Road in November, and conceded 25 goals in the process. Every match is a damage-limitation exercise for a country which has only 27,000 inhabitants, but here the dream of winning a point, which the manager Giampaolo Mazza talked about 24 hours earlier, was within reach.

Staunton spoke about "the heart, spirit and fight" that Ireland displayed, but good fortune played a more crucial part. Although they had dominated possession and were virtually camped in the San Marino half, it was not until after Kevin Kilbane climbed to head home Steve Finnan's cross in the 49th minute that Aldo Junior Simoncini, who had been beaten 13 times when Germany visited in September, was seriously tested. "The players are all disappointed with their performance," Staunton admitted.

He claimed there had been "no complacency" in the side but there could be no other explanation for this display. Ireland showed a glaring lack of conviction, appeared unable to put together simple passing movements and finished miserably when openings arose.

With Wales and Slovakia visiting Croke Park for Euro qualifiers at the end of next month Staunton was stating the obvious when he spoke of the need to improve. "You can't legislate for what's going on at the moment but hopefully the tide has turned with that late winner," he said. "Stephen Ireland got us out of a hole." That was an understatement.

San Marino 4-5-1 A Simoncini; C Valentini, Albani, D Simoncini ·, Muccioli; Michele Marani, Bonini (Vannucci, 76), Domeniconi (Bugli, 87), Manuel Marani, Gasperoni (Andreini, 66); Selva ·.

Subs not used F Valentini, Ciacci, Nanni, Vitaiolo.

Republic of Ireland 4-4-2 Henderson; Finnan, O'Shea (McShane, h-t), Dunne, Harte (Hunt, 74); Duff, Ireland, Carsley, Kilbane; Keane, Long (Stokes, 81).

Subs not used Colgan, Quinn, Keogh, Gibson.

Referee P Rasmussen (Den).