25 Years ago - Happy Anniversary!

[gastric]

One of the greatest days in Irish sport, Love you Ray! I will remember it with pride and the sheer impact it had on the whole country. People who had never watched football became experts overnight!


http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/ray-houghton-25-years-on-from-that-memorial-night-in-stuttgart-29339803.html

[Metrostars]

Not one of the best but THE best day ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okqR2zEIJHY

Nobody thought we had a chance, even ourselves. Zero, none, nada chance. We were like little kids starting our first day at the big school and we shone.

But jeez, that was a loooooooong second half.

[BonnieShels]

What would we call Stutts if it didn't happen?

[Eminence Grise]

A friend texted me this earlier... halcyon days, but a quarter of a century ago? That heart juddering, pulse thumping crawl towards 90 minutes. We were all sat around the telly watching, and Dad, caught up in the moment, swore that if we made it to the final that we'd watch it on a new telly. Well, we got the telly before the final, but not until after the gable wall was pummelled to near collapse by a handball for an hour after Wim Kieft cruelly woke us all from our raptures.

[geysir]

What would we call Stutts if it didn't happen?
A dreamer.

[paul_oshea]

A revisionist? A virgin?

[Stuttgart88]

Was it 2.06pm Irish time or 2.36pm? I think the former.

[tetsujin1979]

A dreamer.
but he's not the only one

[osarusan]

I watched it at home with my uncle. My brother and father had gone off to the Saltee islands for the weekend. They saw the first half in a pub somewhere in Kilmore Quay before heading to the quay. They ended up waiting as the boat owner was staying til the end of the match.

I remember that when the final whistle went, my uncle was down on his knees, and then started to just bang his forehead off the floor, again and again, in celebration. I went outside and picked up a blue and white 'Maradona' ball, and booted it up in the air. It landed in some briars behind a hedge, and we couldn't find it for months.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Was it 2.06pm Irish time or 2.36pm? I think the former.

Actually 15:36 Local time.

Tbf, all the celebratory T-shirts that came out straight after with the time on, pretty much got it wrong too.


And had my own unique place in Irish soccer history that day, but will save that revelation for the 50th anniversary!
:dazed:

[BonnieShels]

Spill yer guts AB!

[ArdeeBhoy]

Replied via e-mail!

Anyway, in the meantime.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xrktv7_euro-88-england-0-1-republic-of-ireland-highlights-12-6-88_sport#.UbiWRdiwWas

[kingoffifa]

thanks for the link ArdeeBhoy.
I had never seen or heard english commentary from the day. A nice find.

It was some day. A glorious day. I never saw my father as happy again, bouncing repeatly up and down on the spot on the tip of his toes.

and yeah - the longest second half ever. I thought Bonner was superman.

[IsMiseSean]

I'm trying to think of my first memory of watching Ireland play. A game against Wales with Ian Rush playing springs to mind. I think it was played in snow with an orange ball. Probably around the 1989/90 period.
Can anyone remember if that happen? :confused:

[tetsujin1979]

I'm trying to think of my first memory of watching Ireland play. A game against Wales with Ian Rush playing springs to mind. I think it was played in snow with an orange ball. Probably around the 1989/90 period.
Can anyone remember if that happen? :confused:was that a 2-1 win? Think Liam O'Brien scored a free kick.

[CraftyToePoke]

I'm trying to think of my first memory of watching Ireland play. A game against Wales with Ian Rush playing springs to mind. I think it was played in snow with an orange ball. Probably around the 1989/90 period.
Can anyone remember if that happen? :confused:

There was one in 90 and another in 91. Both friendlies. The first a 1-0 win in Landsdowne, the second a 3-0 in Wrexham. You may be right about the snow nearly getting one called off, I remember the orange ball on a hard white surface now you say it. Cant be sure if it was Wales, but it was definitely around that time. I seem to remember Bernie Slaven scoring Vs Wales in one of these games but may well be wrong.

http://www.fai.ie/international/senior-men/irelands-results-1982-2010.html

[Supreme feet]

There was one in 90 and another in 91. Both friendlies. The first a 1-0 win in Landsdowne, the second a 3-0 in Wrexham. You may be right about the snow nearly getting one called off, I remember the orange ball on a hard white surface now you say it. Cant be sure if it was Wales, but it was definitely around that time. I seem to remember Bernie Slaven scoring Vs Wales in one of these games but may well be wrong.

http://www.fai.ie/international/senior-men/irelands-results-1982-2010.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYNVdZxnbPk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InAxYNdnEB0

[bennocelt]

Replied via e-mail!

Anyway, in the meantime.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xrktv7_euro-88-england-0-1-republic-of-ireland-highlights-12-6-88_sport#.UbiWRdiwWas


yeah AB email me as well man!!!!:)

[Stuttgart88]

The snow game was a month before Wembley I think. So February 1991?

[Spudulika]

I was doing the Inter that year. And my greatest memory is of a spontaneous "Ireland, Ireland" breaking out in the exam hall, with the invigilators joining in. Simple but beautiful days. We were robbed against the scum Soviets and worse against the cheating Dutch. I saw the last match over in Holland - which had been agreed the year before as a birthday present after the Gary MacKay goal!

[ArdeeBhoy]

I'm trying to think of my first memory of watching Ireland play. A game against Wales with Ian Rush playing springs to mind. I think it was played in snow with an orange ball. Probably around the 1989/90 period.
Can anyone remember if that happen? :confused:


There was one in 90 and another in 91. Both friendlies. The first a 1-0 win in Landsdowne, the second a 3-0 in Wrexham. You may be right about the snow nearly getting one called off, I remember the orange ball on a hard white surface now you say it. Cant be sure if it was Wales, but it was definitely around that time. I seem to remember Bernie Slaven scoring Vs Wales in one of these games but may well be wrong.

http://www.fai.ie/international/senior-men/irelands-results-1982-2010.html

T'was Wrexham with the, er, orange ball.
Perhaps we should use one more often...

[ArdeeBhoy]

yeah AB email me as well man!!!!:)
On my Fbk page...

[IsMiseSean]

I'm wrong about it being my first memory of Ireland playing so, I thought that game came before Italia 90, which I remember watching.
I'm mixing it up with Slaven's debut game.

[pineapple stu]

There was another game against Wales played in Tolka; Kevin Sheedy's last game. Finished 2-1 in early 1993. Can't remember if there was an orange ball though. Would that be the one?

Info from post 174 here (http://foot.ie/threads/64749-Ireland-on-YouTube/page9) might help

[tetsujin1979]

There was another game against Wales played in Tolka; Kevin Sheedy's last game. Finished 2-1 in early 1993. Can't remember if there was an orange ball though. Would that be the one?

Info from post 174 here (http://foot.ie/threads/64749-Ireland-on-YouTube/page9) might helpthat might be the one I'm thinking of, we went 1-0 down IIRC?

[pineapple stu]

Yep (except for the Liam O'Brien free kick bit) - details here (http://www.11v11.com/matches/republic-of-ireland-v-wales-17-february-1993-244093/).

I remember Ronnie Whelan being subbed on and odd; might be the only time that's happened in an Ireland game? Probably the first anyway, given you need to be able to use two subs for it to happen, and that didn't arrive till relatively recently.

What's the story with Coyne for McLoughlin on 0 minutes? A very early injury, or an injury in the warm-up? That's not usually marked as a sub though. Or is it just a typo?

[Charlie Darwin]

I'm sure there have been players who were subbed on and then got injured in recent history. It would be strange if it hadn't happened over the hundreds of internationals since substitutions were brought in.

[gastric]

I'm sure there have been players who were subbed on and then got injured in recent history. It would be strange if it hadn't happened over the hundreds of internationals since substitutions were brought in.

Just on that, I remember in the 80s when Bulgaria were our nemesis in terms of WC qualification, and two Irish players and and two Bulgarians were sent off for fighting. One of the Irish players had just come on to the ground when he got his marching orders.

Edit:
Just found this website which gives great info on such incidents.

http://www.soccer-ireland.com/football-statistics/soccer-facts.htm