It took 58 minutes before Ireland really tested Gianluigi Buffon in the Italian goal. That kind of sums up Ireland tournament.

The pressure was off last night in Poznan and with nothing but pride to play for, the players can head home with their heads held slightly higher after last nights performance.

Italy had it all to play for but for the first half-an-hour looked a team who were struggling with the pressure. Ireland started brightly and looked well up for it. The problem for Ireland, and luckily for Italy, was whenever we had a promising attack it all broke down far too easily. Through a lack of composure, making the wrong decisions and not committing enough bodies forward we let the Italians off the hook.

Shortly after the half hour mark, the inevitable happened. Shay Given fumbled a long range shot to concede a corner kick and from the resulting set piece Antonio Cassano's near post flick bounced behind the line as Damien Duff attempted to clear. The spring in Ireland's step vanished and the goal did wonders for the Italians.

Italy started the second half strongly and only some last ditch defending and goal-bound blocks stopped them from going further ahead. Ireland had a late flourish, Buffon denying Andrews, before the latter got sent off for a second yellow card as frustration showed. Seconds later, Balotelli added to our misery as he volleyed home from a corner.

This result just added to a deeply disappointing campaign for us, one which started with so much hope. Huge questions must be asked about Giovanni Trapattoni now. His stubbornness and refusal to play anything other than 4-4-2 has cost us dearly and will no doubt cost us in the future. I have a feeling the FAI might be regretting their decision of handing him a 2 year contract and the responsibility of getting us to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

David van Zanten followed Ireland throughout the tournament. You should follow him on Twitter.

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