Shane Long, playing as the lone front-man, blazed over an excellent first-half chance and fired straight at Boaz Myhill when he raced through in the second half.

Trapattoni made several substitutions as the game wore on, handing a first cap to Paddy Madden, and the Yeovil Town striker went close to breaking the deadlock before Jonathan Walters also had a shot saved.

"I am happy with the performance and I think we deserved to win," said Trapattoni.

"We had three or four clear chances but their goalkeeper was fantastic."

Robbie Keane was missing for Ireland but Sunderland defender John O'Shea was present to win his 90th cap for the Republic.

Defence has been Ireland's strongpoint under their Italian boss and this clean sheet was their fifth in eight games, an encouraging sign going into next month's crucial FIFA World Cup Qualification double-header against Group C rivals Sweden and Austria.

O’Shea said: "I am a little bit disappointed. We had a couple of chances to win the game but it wasn't to be.

"When you come away from home you want to keep a clean sheet and we did that, but we had a couple of chances to win it. We'll take the positives out of it."