It was honours even after the European Under-21 Championship play-off first leg at Tallaght Stadium on Friday night, but the sense in the aftermath was it's advantage Israel ahead of the return game on Tuesday.
Ireland had the chances to establish a good lead in Dublin.
The impressive Aaron Connolly, Willl Smallbone and Eiran Cashin all went close before Idan Gorno struck for the visitors with a header from a corner. Evan Ferguson soared to glance home a deserved second-half equaliser, but Ireland are facing a massive challenge in Tel Aviv, where temperatures are expected to be around 28 degrees come kick-off time.
Israel have shown Crawford's team ample respect by calling back three players from the senior squad for the second leg.
Celtic attacker Liel Abada, Olympiacos full-back Doron Leidner and Eden Kartsev of Maccabi Tel Aviv are all available having helped the seniors to a 2-1 UEFA Nations League win over Albania on Saturday.
However Crawford will not be doing likewise, despite Gavin Bazunu, Troy Parrott, Nathan Collins, Jason Knight and Michael Obafemi being eligible. They will stick with Stephen Kenny's senior squad for the Aviva Stadium clash against Armenia.
Meanwhile Crawford remains upbeat and quietly confident his charges are good enough to make history and qualify Ireland for a first ever major finals at the U-21 grade.
"I thought it was a very good performance on Friday," he told RTÉ Sport.
"It was disappointing to concede a goal from a set play. It's something we work a lot on, but these things happen. The players showed resilience and character to get themselves back into the game.
"I do think we can raise our game even more with the players we have. I have no doubt we'll be able to do that.
"Of course you'd have regrets you missed chances. On another day we could have been a coupe of goals up after the first leg, and I think the real measure of our performance was that they have drafted down three players from the senior team. It's going to be a stiffer challenge, there's not doubt about it, but I think with the quality we have in our squad, we'll be okay."
"I do think we can raise our game even more with the players we have" - Ireland U21s boss Jim Crawford spoke to @darrenfrehill ahead of Tuesday's massive Euros play-off in Israel, live on the @RTEplayer (6.15pm ko) #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/bOyfm2fYF6
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) September 26, 2022
Ferguson is nursing an ankle knock but he's expected to be OK. Bar that, Ireland have a clean bill of health.
Having really gone at the Israelis in Tallaght, the complexion of the game is likely to be a lot different at Bloomfield Stadium. Certainly Israel will look to take the game to their hosts a lot more, buoyed by the returning trio of Abada, Leidner and Kartsev, plus a partisan crowd that will expect them to play on the front foot.
Crawford also admitted that the heat may dictate the Irish approach.
"You have to factor that in too, to go after a team for 90 minutes in those type of conditions can be challenging," he added.
"You've got to pick and choose your moments to get after teams. Our boys are clever enough. They'll be well versed on what we've got to do."
There's some seasoned Irish campaigners who have been with the group for a long time now. Among them is Lee O'Connor, the tigerish Tranmere Rovers caps full-back desperate to make the big breakthrough.
O'Connor has been a mainstay of Ireland squads from U-15s up. This is his last campaign in underage international football, and he wants to make it count.
"I've said it many times, there's nothing like it... it's just a different kind of feeling when you play for Ireland," O'Connor said.
"It's something I've love since my very first game. That's why I've made sure I could come to every sing camp I could go to.
"It's a big game for all of us but it's 90 minutes of football - and a chance to make history at the end.
"We're all confident. We know it's going to be a tough game. We know what needs to be done. To be be the first to do it, you'd go down in history. That's all we're thinking about."
Confident, determined and together - it's set up to be a special night for the Republic of Ireland.
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Follow Israel v Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Under-21 European Championship second-leg play-off this Tuesday (KO 6.15pm) via our liveblog on RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app, or watch live on the RTÉ Player (Island of Ireland).
