Lithuania 3-1 Ireland
Ireland's hopes of qualifying for the 2017 European Under-21 Championships hang in the balance after a 3-1 defeat to Lithuania in Vilnius on Friday night.
Ireland won their first three qualifiers but lost in Italy last month and must now pick themselves up following a shock result against Group 2's bottom side.
Before this win Lithuania had previously failed to register a point in this campaign, making this defeat even more disappointing.
Noel King’s side fell behind on 22 minutes when Lukas Spalvis met Vykintas Slivka's left-wing cross with a powerful header which flew over Daniel Rogers and into the net.
Conor Wilkinson had already hit the crossbar when he equalised after 44 minutes with a well-hit drive across the goalkeeper.
But they were level for barely a minute when they saw Simonas Stankevicius restore Lithuania's lead from the edge of the box.
The home side wrapped up the three points 18 minutes from time courtesy of Donatas Kazlauskas' low strike after being played in by Stankevicius.
A miserable night for the Boys in Breen, who lost Glen Rea to injury just before kick-off and saw Jack Connors limp off early on, was complete when Sean Kavanagh was sent off in the closing stages.
