Steve Staunton's dream of leading the Republic of Ireland to next summer's Euro 2008 finals is effectively over after Marek Jankulovski's first-half winner gave the Czech Republic an almost unassailable Group D advantage.
Reeling from the harsh sending-off of substitute Stephen Hunt on the hour for a lunge on Jan Polak, Staunton's men battled bravely in search of an equaliser but were ultimately fortunate to go down by such a narrow deficit.
Jankulovski's goal marked a first period of complete dominance by Czechs spiked only by Kevin Doyle's 38th minute chance in which the Reading man was sent clear by Robbie Keane but hit the post.
Hunt gave the Republic the momentum to at least make a game of it after his introduction seven minutes before the break, but his straight red card realistically signified the end of the Irish challenge.
A draw may also have been enough for the Czechs but Karel Bruckner's men indicated their intentions from the start with Milan Baros immediately making light of the absence of fellow striker Jan Koller.
The former Liverpool man had cut the Republic defence in half as early as the first minute when he burst onto the end of Jaroslav Plasil's through-ball, only to be denied by a superb challenge from Paul McShane.
Staunton had a lot to thank McShane for in the torrid early stages, as the Sunderland man chested away a dangerous cross from Baros then stuck a boot in to end another dangerous run.
Tomas Rosicky completely miskicked in the box after being fed by the lively Plasil on the left, then Libor Sionko flashed an effort across goal from the opposite flank.
The home side's inevitable opener arrived after 15 minutes when Marek Jankulovski played a superb one-two with Plasil before bursting past Richard Dunne and firing low past Shay Given.
Kevin Kilbane's speculative long-range effort was all the Irish could muster in response, and the Czechs should have gone further ahead in the 21st minute when Sionko somehow swung his shot wide when clean through.
It summed up the early action that the Republic's best chance came in the 31st minute when Radoslav Kovac almost made a mess of Andy Reid's cross and was lucky to bobble the ball back to Petr Cech.
But the Irish belatedly fashioned a shift in momentum by accident, when John O'Shea hobbled off, forcing Staunton to bring Stephen Hunt into midfield, with Stephen Kelly switching flanks and Kilbane dropping to left-back.
Suddenly Hunt's mazy runs down the left gave them hope and almost led to an equaliser.
With the Czech defence static after Sionko fell on the edge of the box, Keane put Doyle clean through only for the Reading man to hit the post.
It looked like normal service would resume when Baros screwed a long-range effort narrowly wide of target with less than a minute of the second half gone.
But at the other end Ireland responded through a Reid corner which was just too high for McShane, who directed his resulting header over Petr Cech's bar.
The impressive Jankulovski directed a 50th minute free-kick straight at Given but the Irish certainly looked more inventive in the second half's early stages, Hunt beating Sionko but crossing just too high for Keane.
Given saved Staunton's men in the 58th minute, when Sionko's blocked shot rebounded to Rosicky on the edge of the box, and his rising drive was superbly parried over the bar by the Newcastle United goalkeeper.
But the Republic's hopes suffered a hammer blow on the hour when Hunt lunged in to challenge Jan Polak on the half-way line and despite winning the ball was rather harshly shown a straight red card.
Staunton immediately responded by introducing Shane Long in place of the ineffective Aiden McGeady, but without the obvious momentum provided by Hunt their hopes were flickering.
Long took advantage of more hesitation in the Czech defence to burst down the left and send in a cross which proved agonisingly too deep for the on-rushing Doyle, who would surely have scored.
The Republic kept pressing and almost equalised again in the 71st minute when Cech uncharacteristically fumbled Reid's high free-kick. McShane desperately stabbed the loose ball goalwards before it was bundled away.
Staunton's men were giving it a good go but became increasingly vulnerable to the counter-attack and Jankulovski came close to a second goal when he fired straight at Given from long-range.
The result leaves Ireland languishing in third place in Group D, six points adrift of the Czechs and four points ahead of Slovakia, who were beaten 5-2 by Wales earlier today.
