Budapest - Ireland were outplayed by Hungary in a Euro 2012 warm-up on Monday, escaping from Budapest with a 0-0 draw but given a glimpse of the tough task ahead in a group with the more clinical trio of Spain, Italy and Croatia.
The draw means Ireland extended their unbeaten run to 14 games - 11 achieved without conceding a goal - and Giovanni Trapattoni's men head for their opening game against Croatia next weekend with a clean bill of health.
“It's very hard because it's a week away from the biggest games of our lives and, as much as we don't want to lose, we don't want to get injured and that all takes effect on the game,” defender Richard Dunne told Setanta Sports.
“We're happy because we've done our bit, we've got a bit of fitness out of it and we're still unbeaten going into the tournament.”
Ireland started with the first choice eleven that Trapattoni hopes to field in their first Group C game in Poznan on Sunday although goalkeeper Shay Given, who has been troubled by a knee injury, was replaced at halftime by Keiren Westwood.
The visitors had a chance after 14 minutes when captain Robbie Keane forced Hungary goalkeeper Adam Bogdan into action.
However, the impressive young home side quickly began to dominate and a fit-again Given had to make a smart save from a deflected Balazs Dzsudzsak shot moments later and stopped the Dynamo Moscow midfielder again after 24 minutes.
Adam Szalai was next to have a go and failed to take full advantage when a Sean St Ledger slip left him one-on-one with Given, although the striker would have made amends just before the break were it not for a brilliant last ditch sliding tackle from Stephen Ward.
The pressure on Ireland continued in the second half and Szalai had two further chances from close range after 53 and 54 minutes, his first blocked by St Ledger and the second stopped by a fine save from Westwood.
Fellow Irish substitute Jonathan Walters offered some respite with a stinging effort from a tight angle on the hour but the big forward somehow missed the target with a free header 20 minutes later.
Hungary remained dangerous on the break and finally beat Westwood after 84 minutes but Stephen Hunt was on hand to wallop substitute Imre Szabics's effort off the line.
The home side, who missed out on a place in Poland and Ukraine but won as many qualifiers as Ireland including a victory over Sweden, showed their intent to go one better when the World Cup comes around having done everything but score. - Reuters