Foot.ie decides - Ireland's best goal!

[pineapple stu]

2) Shane Long H v Germany, 2015
Probably the most Irish goal it's possible to score (that doesn't involve a header).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJup10szLr0

[pineapple stu]

3) Ronnie Whelan A v Luxembourg, 1987
A slightly less famous Whelan rocket connected with Euro 88! Time is 0:58; time-stamped link is here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzCWL7rnZLo&t=0m59s).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzCWL7rnZLo&t=0m59s

[pineapple stu]

4) Andy Keogh H v Serbia, 2008
Andy Keogh rescuing a draw in Trap's first game in charge all those years ago. Time is 0:20; time-stamped link is here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=522MQoXvzm4&t=0m20s).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=522MQoXvzm4&t=0m20s

[pineapple stu]

5) Ashley Grimes H v Spain, 1982
"Que golazo" from a player who would play in Spain later in his career. Probably would look better if the camera had actually caught it better!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBR3tnMXrg0

[NeverFeltBetter]

Long (Germany)
Keogh
Long (England)
Grimes
Whelan

[geysir]

Group L - L for Long

All excellent goals - a dead heat from 2 to 5.

1. Shane Long v Germany, 2015
2. Ashley Grimes v Spain, 1982
3. Ronnie Whelan v Luxembourg, 1987
4. Andy Keogh v Serbia, 2008 - nonchalance extraordinaire
5. Shane Long v England

[Eirambler]

Group L
1. Grimes
2. Long (Germany)
3. Keogh
4. Long (England)
5. Whelan

[nigel-harps1954]

Group L:

1. Grimes
2. Keogh
3. Long (Germany) - probably a bit of bitterness since I sold my ticket for that game the day before
4. Long (England)
5. Whelan

[tetsujin1979]

Don't feel too bad, the guy I went to the Germany game with went to the bathroom and missed Long's goal!

[pineapple stu]

Jump in for an aul vote tets btw! The more the merrier in this one :)

[pineapple stu]

So it's Gibson and Harte into the knock-outs as Group K concludes. Decent gap back to Duff, Kelly and Brady respectively, but another competitive group all told.

Long and Grimes lead the way in Group L, though Andy Keogh isn't too far behind. Still time to vote though.

The group stages finish tomorrow - so just four more to get through. Group M is up now -

1) Niall Quinn A v England, 1991
2) John Aldridge N v Mexico, 1994
3) Matt Holland A v Portugal, 2000
4) Mark Lawrenson A v Scotland, 1987
5) Robbie Keane H v Yugoslavia, 1999

Videos to come now

[pineapple stu]

1) Niall Quinn A v England, 1991
I always thought there was more pressure in the build-up to this one to be honest. Still a nice finish, even if Motson says he could hardly miss. Time is 8:06; time-stamped link is here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFVh40Eb1yE&t=8m6s).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFVh40Eb1yE&t=8m6s

[pineapple stu]

2) John Aldridge N v Mexico, 1994
A lovely patient build-up and a header fuelled by petty revenge at that official in the yellow cap :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvwC0vsJcjI

[pineapple stu]

3) Matt Holland A v Portugal, 2000
geysir's number 1 choice here, no doubt!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_9f5-6Bvc0

[pineapple stu]

4) Mark Lawrenson A v Scotland, 1987
Quick thinking or bad sportsmanship? The Scots didn't seem too happy with it anyway, but they're not voting here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2eh7P2NPzI&feature=youtu.be

[pineapple stu]

5) Robbie Keane H v Yugoslavia, 1999
A lovely sweeping finish from the edge of the box to leave the keeper completely flat-footed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=HTERrBF2gRs

[Eirambler]

Group M

1) Matt Holland A v Portugal, 2000
2) Robbie Keane H v Yugoslavia, 1999
3) John Aldridge N v Mexico, 1994
4) Mark Lawrenson A v Scotland, 1987 - I think the wrong link is up for that - here's the goal:

https://youtu.be/Y2eh7P2NPzI

5) Niall Quinn A v England, 1991

I never knew that the qualification for Euro 88 that started everything for us was built on the back of what was, to be honest, fairly bad sportsmanship for that Lawrenson goal.

[tetsujin1979]

Jump in for an aul vote tets btw! The more the merrier in this one :)

As an admin, I usually abstain from polls, but if there's a tie I'll cast the deciding vote

[NeverFeltBetter]

Keane
Holland
Lawrenson
Aldridge
Quinn

Think your Lawrenson vid is wrong Stu.

[pineapple stu]

As an admin, I usually abstain from polls, but if there's a tie I'll cast the deciding vote
I cast the deciding vote as the tournament admin (and have done a couple of times)

You let your hair down a little bit and have some fun :)

Edit - good spot on the Lawrenson video; updated now. Thanks!

[Fixer82]

Group L

Long (Germany)
Long (England)
Keogh
Grimes
Whelan

[Fixer82]

Group M

Holland
Aldridge
Keane
Quinn
Lawrsenson

[elatedscum]

L:

1. Long v Germany
2. Long v England
3. Keogh
4. Grimes
5. Whelan

[elatedscum]

Group M

1. Holland
2. Quinn
3. Aldridge
4. Keane
5. Lawrenson

[DeLorean]

Group M

1. Quinn (love this goal, made such a difficult finish look so easy, amazed it ranks so low in a couple of the votes)
2. Holland
3. Keane
4. Aldridge
5. Lawrenson

Edit: If Group L is still open:

1. Long (Ger)
2. Grimes
3. Long (Eng)
4. Keogh
5. Whelan

[SkStu]

Group L
Long (Ger)
Long (Eng)
Keogh
Grimes
Whelan

[SkStu]

Group M

Holland
Keane
Quinn
Aldridge
Lawrenson

[tetsujin1979]

Group L
Long (England)
Long (Germany)
Keogh
Grimes
Whelan

Group M
Holland
Keane
Aldridge
Quinn
Lawrenson

[geysir]

This is not getting easier, now it's akin to being asked which child you love most.

Group M.

Matt Holland v Portugal + the officials. One of my favourite games.
Robbie Keane v Yugo
Niall Quinn v England
Aldo v Mexico
Lawrenson v Scotland.

2 Scots tried to throttle Stapleton, the ref blew for a foul. While Frank emerged unscathed, one of the Scots was left hurting on the grass.
I say it was a fair cop to take the smart free kick, the Scots had bitten off more than they could chew against Stapleton.

[pineapple stu]

You have a way with words geysir; I'll grant you that!

Shane Long v Germany is the runaway winner of Group L. One of my favourites too - I think the quick switch from casual goal kick to a belter of a finish is something football has over a lot of other field sports. You wouldn't see that quick a transition in rugby, hockey, ice hockey for example (it'd be offside in each case). Hurling can match it of course, but then hurling's great.

However, there's just one point between the next three - and a tie for second between Long (v England) and Grimes, with Andy Keogh a point behind. So the casting vote - Long's is a quality header (and I was in the ground for it, which always makes it feel better), but I'm a sucker for a bit of proper retro, so I'll give Ashley Grimes the nod.

No real upset in Group M likely, but keep the votes coming in anyway. Group N is on the way now. We have -

1) Andy Reid H v Cyprus, 2004
2) Gerry Daly H v England, 1978
3) Liam Brady A v England, 1985
4) Robbie Keane A v Holland, 2000
5) Mark Kinsella H v USA, 2002

Stand by for footage...

[pineapple stu]

1) Andy Reid H v Cyprus, 2004
A proper wonder goal on his competitive debut. Tome is 0:24; time-stamped link is here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsE2v_z3rvA&t=0m24s).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsE2v_z3rvA&t=0m24s

[pineapple stu]

2) Gerry Daly H v England, 1978
The forerunner to Glenn Whelan v Italy, which is already through to the knock-outs. Time is 4:05; time-stamped link is here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-MFuabvy0M&t=4m5s).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-MFuabvy0M&t=4m5s

[pineapple stu]

3) Liam Brady A v England, 1985
I'd much rather the keeper hadn't spilled this tbh, because the build-up is magnificent. Time is 4:05; time-stamped link is here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPOOBjJrLi4&t=2m22s).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPOOBjJrLi4&t=2m22s

[pineapple stu]

4) Robbie Keane A v Holland, 2000
They just don't make Ireland goals like this any more... Also, how on earth is this 20 years ago?! Time is 1:02; time-stamped link is here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVV-f9LoSLw&t=1m2s).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVV-f9LoSLw&t=1m2s

[pineapple stu]

5) Mark Kinsella H v USA, 2002
An acrobatic finish from Kinsella in a pre-World Cup friendly. Kudos to the English guy on Sky pronouncing his name correctly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eElC0h5XlA

[seanfhear]

This is not getting easier, now it's akin to being asked which child you love most.

Group M.

Matt Holland v Portugal + the officials. One of my favourite games.
Robbie Keane v Yugo
Niall Quinn v England
Aldo v Mexico
Lawrenson v Scotland.

2 Scots tried to throttle Stapleton, the ref blew for a foul. While Frank emerged unscathed, one of the Scots was left hurting on the grass.
I say it was a fair cop to take the smart free kick, the Scots had bitten off more than they could chew against Stapleton.
Frank was a pretty tough guy and like a lot of tough guys he did not use it that much. Mostly he didn’t have to but he had it if necessary ! !

[NeverFeltBetter]

Reid
Keane
Brady
Kinsella
Daly

Man, we used to play England a lot more than we do now.

[geysir]

Minor correction to the Group N menu, Daly scored in the home game.


Group N
1. Andy Reid v Cyprus, 2004
2. Robbie Keane v Holland, 2000
3. Liam Brady v England, 1985
4. Gerry Daly v England, 1978 Yet another Brady free kick from left field catches the defence on the hop.
5. Mark Kinsella H v USA, 2002

[Eirambler]

Group N

1st) Andy Reid H v Cyprus, 2004
2) Robbie Keane A v Holland, 2000
3) Mark Kinsella H v USA, 2002
4) Liam Brady A v England, 1985
5) Gerry Daly A v England, 1978

[pineapple stu]

Minor correction to the Group N menu, Daly scored in the home game.
Yup - though I somehow had it right in the video post! Fixed now anyway.

[Fixer82]

Group N


Reid
Kinsella
Keane
Brady
Daly

[SkStu]

Group N

Reid
Brady
Keane
Kinsella
Daly

[pineapple stu]

So that's it for Group M - Matt Holland with a clear win (28 points), and Robbie Keane following through in second on 29. Nothing to separate Quinn and Aldridge in third (21 points)

Group N is still open, and today sees the last two groups then. Group O first, which is -

1) Robbie Keane A v France, 2009
2) Jason McAteer H v Macedonia, 1996
3) John Sheridan A v Northern Ireland, 1994
4) Matt Holland H v Romania, 2004
5) Jon Walters H v Uruguay, 2017

Videos to follow now...

[pineapple stu]

1) Robbie Keane A v France, 2009
A great move spoiled by some of the worst commentary I've ever heard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Akd7YlDLpo

[pineapple stu]

2) Jason McAteer H v Macedonia, 1996
I remember thinking this was the first time we'd really seen a clear change of style between Jack's Ireland and Mick's Ireland. McLoughlin, who made this goal, was unexpectedly on fire around this time as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cyg-JcBpiU

[pineapple stu]

3) John Sheridan A v Northern Ireland, 1994
How underrated/underused was John Sheridan? Time is 0:25; time-stamped link is here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKYamyxcKMo&t=0m25s).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKYamyxcKMo&t=0m25s

[pineapple stu]

4) Matt Holland H v Romania, 2004
Another Matt Holland special - on the volley this time, which may make up for it being in a May friendly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuCBGmes9YI

[pineapple stu]

5) Jon Walters H v Uruguay, 2017
Bit like Kevin Doyle's earlier effort v Andorra - a scrap on the edge of the box and then a sudden curler into the top corner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KIM2dm6tac

[NeverFeltBetter]

Walters
Holland
McAteer
Keane
Sheridan

[tetsujin1979]

really tough, you ask me this again tomorrow and I'll probably give a completely different order
Holland
Keane
Walters
Sheridan
McAteer