Trailing to Keith Treacy's first-half strike, the Austrians grabbed an unlikely equaliser in the 93rd minute when substitute Michael Stanislaw curled the ball past Stephen Henderson from 10 yards.

It was harsh on the Irish, who dominated the game and thought they had done enough to record the victory.

New captain Treacy had his first glimpse of goal on 12 minutes when he raced passed two defenders but his shot from 15 yards sailed over the bar.

The 19-year-old Blackburn forward did not have to wait long for his reward, however, when three minutes later he ran at the home defence before unleashing a shot from 20 yards that flew into the bottom corner to give the Irish the lead.

Rubin Okotie had Austria's first chance on 29 minutes when the ball but he scuffed his shot wide from six yards.

The same player almost made amends 10 minutes later when he turned on the edge of the box and shot, but Shane Redmond was equal to the challenge.

Four minutes after the re-start it was Austrian keeper Robert Olejnik who was at full stretch to palm away Alan Judge's long range effort.

It was another long-range effort that had Olejnik scrambling on 68 minutes, this time from James Ryan after the Ireland midfielder spotted the goalkeeper off his line and struck from 35 yards, only for Olejnik to turn it around the post for a corner.

The Irish contained the Austrians superbly in the second half and thought that they had done enough to get the win until Stanislaw struck with the last kick of the ball.