Game at a glance
Man of the match
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Stephen Hunt
As question marks surrounded the strength on the Irish flanks, Hunt was a phenomenon as he provided an extreme performance of end-to-end football.
When he wasnt whipping in crosses, striking long-distance crackers or winning free kicks in the final third, he was defending doggedly on the rare Italian attacks.
It was a touch of vitality without which Irelands performance could have floundered.
Turning point
A little like Saturday's home tie against Bulgaria, it was a huge early moment which changed the game completely as Giampaolo Pazzini saw red.
This time though it heralded an extremely positive performance for the Boys in Green, in stark contrast to that of four days previous, and thankfully the pressure counted, even if it took 85 minutes to come to fruition.
Referee watch
German Wolfgang Stark stepped straight into the spotlight just three minutes into the game when he dished out a red card to Pazzini and the Italians may have felt hard done by.
Inconsistencies followed in a poor performance.
Manager watch
Giovanni Trapattoni commented during the week that if he wants entertainment, he goes to La Scala and the animated 70-year-old performed his best impression of the opera as the arms flailed and lungs trembled throughout at the edge of his technical area.
A fascinating battle between the two Italian masters ensued and the Italian air, it seems, unlocked Il Capo's shackles as he became a different man, making changes and encouraging positivity like never before.
Crowd watch
A rip-roaring national anthem procession meant the house band were basically muted before the game.
As the rain teemed down in Bari, the pocket of Irish fans was as exposed as the right side of Ireland's defence but it only further wet their whistles as Oles echoed vibrantly around the San Nicola.
Match stats
Yellow cards: Ireland 1 Italy 4
Red cards: Ireland 0 Italy 1
Shots on target: Ireland 3 Italy 1
Shots off target: Ireland 6 Italy 2
Corners: Ireland 10 Italy 1
Offsides: Ireland 2 Italy 3
