Dunne settles injury-time scramble to salvage Kerr's unbeaten record

Republic of Ireland 2 Turkey

Brian Kerr said his makeshift team had given him "food for thought" after drawing 2-2 with Turkey here.

The Republic of Ireland manager made seven changes to the team which drew 1-1 with Russia on Saturday and used a further six substitutes to giving his fringe players the chance to stake a claim for next month's decisive Euro 2004 Group 10 qualifier in Switzerland.

"It was a difficult situation for our players because they were disappointed after Saturday," said Kerr, who has now extended his unbeaten record as manager to nine games. "Yet three days later they were facing the team who are in the top 10 of Fifa's standings and they responded well to that challenge."

David Connolly scored a superb individual goal after 35 minutes - his first for his country in two years - but Hakan Sukur equalised on 52 minutes.

Turkey threatened to spoil Ireland's night just four minutes from the end when Okan Yilmaz put them ahead. But two minutes into injury time, Stephen Carr's corner from the left was fired in by his fellow substitute, Richard Dunne.

Kerr deployed Damien Duff on the right side of midfield - his fourth different position in as many matches - with Andy O'Brien and Dunne playing at the heart of the defence.

Turkey suffered a scare when their goalkeeper, Rustu Recber, went off with a knee injury. His replacement, Omer Catkic, was himself substituted before the end of the game.

The Turkey manager, Senol Gunes, is optimistic that the Barcelona keeper will be fit for their Euro 2004 showdown at home to England next month.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (4-3-1-2): Colgan (Stockport County); Finnan (Liverpool), O'Brien (Newcastle), Breen (Sunderland), Harte (Leeds); Healy (Sunderland), Kinsella (Aston Villa), Kilbane (Everton); Duff (Chelsea); Connolly (West Ham), Doherty (Tottenham). Substitutes: Reid (Blackburn Rovers) for Duff, h-t; Murphy (West Bromwich) for Colgan, 75; Dunne (Manchester City) for O'Brien,

75; Morrison (Birmingham City) forBreen, 88; McPhail (Nottingham Forest) for Healy, 88; Carr (Tottenham) for Harte, 89.

TURKEY (4-4-2): Rustu (Barcelona); Fatih Akyel (Fenerbahce), Bulent (Galatasaray), Alpay (Aston Villa), Ergun (Galatasaray); Hasan (Galatasaray), Tugay (Blackburn Rovers), Emre Belozoglu (Internazionale), Tayfun (Espanyol); Tuncay (Fenerbahce), Hakan Sukur (Galatasaray). Substitutes: Uzulmez for Hasan, h-t; Baris for Alpay, h-t; Buruk for Tayfun, h-t; Catkic for Rustu, 61; Karadeniz for Bulent, 61; Yildirim for Tuncay, 75; Yilmaz for Tugay, 75; Ozgultekin for Catkic, 88; Metin for Hakan Sukur, 88.

Referee: J Wegerees (Netherlands).