John O’Shea shocks Germany with last-gasp equaliser for Ireland

Ireland stunned World Cup winners Germany with a stoppage-time equaliser by John O’Shea on his 100th appearance to draw 1-1 in their Euro 2016 qualifier on Tuesday.

The Germans were in complete command, as they had been in their 2-0 defeat by Poland in Warsaw on Saturday, and had a bagful of chances against the Irish, but were again missing the finishing touch.

Toni Kroos seemed to have rescued the three points for the injury-hit Germans and settled the nerves of 50,000 fans in Gelsenkirchen with a powerful low drive that went in off the post after 71 minutes.

But O’Shea silenced the home crowd with his stoppage-time goal to punish lacklustre Germany, who have now failed to keep a clean sheet in their four internationals since winning the World Cup in July and have conceded eight goals in the process.

“We are all very disappointed,” said Germany coach Joachim Loew. “To lead until the final minute and then they score with their first chance, it’s disappointing.”

“In the final minutes we were naive. We did not hold the ball but kept playing it away. I have no clear explanation for this.”