Half-Time Report: Poland ahead against the Republic of Ireland

Poland are on the verge of qualifying for Euro 2016 as Robert Lewandowski's header has given them a 2-1 lead over the Republic of Ireland in their decisive qualifier this evening.

The Poles were the first to threaten when Kamil Grosicki saw his effort turned behind by Darren Randolph after a scramble inside the box.

From the resulting corner the hosts took the lead, as Grzegorz Krychowiak was picked out on the edge of the box by Grosicki and fired a half-volley into the bottom corner.

However, Ireland were awarded a penalty just three minutes later when Michal Pazdan caught Shane Long with a high foot inside the box.

Jonathan Walters took the resulting spot kick and he held his nerve to slot a low effort into the corner and beyond the reach of Lukasz Fabianski.

Poland soon thought that they had retaken the lead when Krzysztof Maczynski drilled in a low strike, but his effort was ruled out as Lewandowski was standing in an offside position and was deemed to be interfering with play.

With three minutes of the first half remaining Lewandowski arrived to power in a header from Maczynski's cross to score his 13th goal of the qualifying campaign and give Poland the lead heading into the break.