Austria 1 - 0 Ireland: Trappatoni era looks over

Scorer: Alaba 84

Referee: O Benquerenca (Por)

Attendance: 48,500

Alaba, the man whose last-gasp strike in Dublin denied Ireland a win in March, repeated the dose 84 minutes into an encounter neither side could afford to lose to leave Austria clinging grimly to their hopes of claiming the runners-up spot in Group C.

That has now gone for Ireland, barring victories over leaders Germany and Kazakhstan by sizeable margins in their two remaining games and an unlikely series of results elsewhere.

On a night when three points were a must, even before Sweden had won in Kazakhstan earlier, the Republic were simply unable to find a way to win.

Indeed, it was the home side who launched a late charge which eventually paid off with time running out.

Trapattoni’s fate, too, is likely to be sealed with his employers having demanded qualification in return for his £1 million-a-year salary, and it remains to be seen whether he will still be at the helm for the trip to Cologne next month – for which central defenders Richard Dunne and John O’Shea will be suspended – after, remarkably, his first defeat in a qualifier on foreign soil.

The severity of the task facing Ireland increased before kick-off when the Swedes emerged from their tricky trip to Kazakhstan with a 1-0 win which left them six points clear of both the 74-year-old Italian’s men and the Austrians, meaning victory was a must for both.

Austria manager Marcel Koller, who had replaced Kavlak with Christoph Leitgeb at the break, sent on Marko Arnautovic for Burgstaller on the hour as he attempted to gain a foothold in the game, and the hosts were laying siege to the Irish goal by the end. The pressure eventually told with just six minutes remaining when Marc Wilson could only block Christian Fuchs’ left-wing cross to Alaba, who gleefully thumped it into the roof of the net.