Manchester United pair Dennis Irwin and Roy Keane gave the Republic a dream start in their European qualifiying campaign, as their goals clinched a magnificent victory over World Cup semi-finalists Croatia.
For the highly-rated visitors it was a match to forget and they suffered the humiliation of finishing the match with just nine men.
Penalty expert Irwin scored from the spot after just five minutes after he had been pulled down in the area.
And with just 15 minutes on the clock Keane, making his first international appearance after almost a year out through injury, doubled the lead.
Jason McAteer's drive took a deflection off a defender and the Irish skipper headed home the rebound.
Croatia struggled to come to terms with the pace of the game and after the break the frustration began to show.
Within the space of two minutes midway through the second half the visitors pressed the self-destruct button.
With 70 minutes gone striker Mario Stanic was ordered off for a second bookable offence.
And before Croatia had time to recover they were down to nine men, when Krunoslav Curcic was red carded following a clumsy challenge on Steve Staunton.
Teams:
Rep of Ireland: Given, Irwin, Staunton, Babb, Cunningham, Roy Keane, McAteer, Kinsella, O'Neill, Robbie Keane, Duff. Subs: Kenna, McLoughlin, Cascarino, Carsley, Keily, Breen, Kennedy.
Croatia: Ladic, Simic, Stimac, Asanovic, Maric, Boban, Stanic, Soldo, Jurcic, Tudor, Jarni. Subs: Rukavina, Cuitanovic, Tokic, Pamic, Krpan, Mrmic, Pavlovic.
Referee: V Mello-Pereira (Portugal)
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