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Following Saturday's 3-0 home win over Cyprus, Roy Keane made his first competitive international appearance in almost three years in place of Graham Kavanagh and Steve Finnan came in for the injured John O'Shea.
After a cagey start, Ireland were celebrating inside eight minutes at the St Jakob Park in Basle.
Clinton Morrison's goal was a perfect replica of the opener in the win over the Cypriots as the Birmingham forward glanced into the bottom left-hand corner a cross from the fit-again Damien Duff, who had shaken off a calf injury.
But after Shay Given had tipped a fierce 25-yard Murat Yakin free-kick onto the bar and kept out Alexander Rey's shot, the Swiss equalised on 17 minutes as Tranquillo Barnetta played in Hakan Yakin to angle a left-foot shot across Given.
Morrison should have scored again before half-time but headed Robbie Keane's knockdown into the turf, allowing home goalkeeper Patrick Zuberbuhler to scramble the ball away.
Murat Yakin was lucky to escape punishment when he blatantly hauled back Robbie Keane soon after the restart.
Then Roy Keane was breathing a sigh of relief as his heavy tackle probably should have earned him a second booking.
On 68 minutes, Hakan Yakin's bullet of a 25-yard left-foot drive was bound for the top right-hand corner, only for Given to pull out another save from the top drawer.
It was backs to the wall for the Irish for the closing stages but they held, putting them second in the table on four points alongside the Swiss, France and Israel.
Shay Given was presented with the Eircom Man Of The Match award afterwarda after keeping Ireland in the game on numerous occasions.