20 years to the day that.....

[OwlsFan]

....Gary Mackay stuck the ball in the Bulgarian net. To me that was my greatest moment following Ireland. Better than Stuttgart, New York etc etc. We had made it to a final at last. I had taken a half day off work to watch the game in the hope rather than belief that we could do it. The Bulgarians had a number of chances to equalise after the goal and the tension was unbearable, made even worse by George Hamilton talking about opening our German travel books just before the Scots cleared another one off the line.

For as long as Mackay was at Hearts, I sent him a Christmas card every year thanking him :D

Ni feicimid a leitheid aris. Pure magic.

[stojkovic]

Aye remember it well.

Got the phonecall in work that the jocks had won.

Went straight to the pub and got ****faced

[NeilMcD]

Ahhh the jocks beat the commies and the paddys got the luck of the Irish.

[geysir]

We have had some heartbreaking Hamilton commentary payback for surviving his curse that day.

The best moment in Irish sport wasn't the goal, it was the referee's final whistle :)

[SUB of the day]

Was in a train station in Sydney, scanning down the results in the classifieds, there it was Bulgaria 0 Scotland 1, being pre mobile and sat tv I got back to the apartment, where messages of incredulity awaited on the answer machine.As great as the moment was, Rays goal in Stuttgart really signalled our arrival.Examine the freakout that followed, the four Cork City jerseys tumbling down the stand....thats us....happy days.WHO PUT THE BALL IN THE ENGLISH NET.....RAYO RAYO!!:)

[jmurphyc]

Good article with him in the paper today. He talks about how it changed his life, etc...

[willk1977]

what paper was that in mate ?

[macdermesser]

can't believe its 20 years ago .. I remember seeing footage of Giles after the game in the studio going mental .. can't remember if O'Herlihy was hosting the show.

He played against Pats in the UEFA cup for Hearts the year after ... got a great reception .. ironic that in 1991, Daniel Timofte also played against Pats in the European Cup .. was cheered every time he touched the ball.

[OwlsFan]

Good article with him in the paper today. He talks about how it changed his life, etc...

Any chance of a link to that article? Pretty meaningless result for Scotland so not sure how it could have changed his life, unless it was my Christmas cards ;)

[tetsujin1979]

I read a short article in the Indo about it, but it doesn't seem to be in the online version

[Seano]

I think Bill was there alright. Right after the goal it flashed back to the studio and the lads were going mental and at the end there was a glass or two of champagne getting knocked back and Bill was tearing up his ' so near but yet so far 'speech. Thats how I remember it anyway.

[Stuttgart88]

Was it Bill or Michael Lyster? I have a dream-like recollection of a p[resenter (I thought it was Lyster) reading out the script as written at 0-0, then bursting into a grin, tearing it up and cracking open the bubbly.

[Jerry The Saint]

I think Bill was there alright. Right after the goal it flashed back to the studio and the lads were going mental and at the end there was a glass or two of champagne getting knocked back and Bill was tearing up his ' so near but yet so far 'speech. Thats how I remember it anyway.

I definitely remember that bit - whoever was presenting said that they had a whole bit prepared about "moral victories", "heartbreak once again for plucky old Ireland" etc. then proceeding to take great pride in literally ripping up the script. :D

[geysir]

At least some adjustments to his life if ever he visits Ireland, he doesn't have to answer a Gary who question. And a sort of a warm glow surrounding the mere mention of the name.


over 1/2 way down there is a tv witness account by Con Houlihan
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/all-changed-when-crokers-gates-swung-open-to-the-games-of-the-foreigner-1216623.html

[OwlsFan]

I have the game on Betamax tape. No joking, I must have watched the last 10 minutes 30+ times during the months after the game. Now if only I could find a betamax recorder to play it on :confused:

Can't honestly remember the studio guests. Certainly the poison dwarf wasn't there. Giles yes and some other ex-footballer. Eoin Hand perhaps. Not sure who was hosting but they did find champagne from somewhere. .

It is my claim to fame that I was the only one of my group of 8 hardcore fans to take the afternoon off to watch the game. Hope springs eternal.

[paul_oshea]

I think Bill was there alright. Right after the goal it flashed back to the studio and the lads were going mental and at the end there was a glass or two of champagne getting knocked back and Bill was tearing up his ' so near but yet so far 'speech. Thats how I remember it anyway.

Its a pity this isn't on youtube or is it? Id love if RTE opened up there own little space on youtube or wherever and started adding oldies like this. would be great to see them, especially I was too young to remember any of this. not like ye old fogies.

[Jerry The Saint]

I have the game on Betamax tape. No joking, I must have watched the last 10 minutes 30+ times during the months after the game. Now if only I could find a betamax recorder to play it on :confused:

Can't honestly remember the studio guests. Certainly the poison dwarf wasn't there. Giles yes and some other ex-footballer. Eoin Hand perhaps. Not sure who was hosting but they did find champagne from somewhere. .

It is my claim to fame that I was the only one of my group of 8 hardcore fans to take the afternoon off to watch the game. Hope springs eternal.

I seem to remember it was Michael Lyster hosting it for some reason:confused:

Given the reports it seems like it wasn't a very high profile game so they may have just brought in whoever was available in RTE to host. Is it true that RTE didn't even show all the Ireland games live in that campaign?

[Seano]

I have the game on Betamax tape. No joking, I must have watched the last 10 minutes 30+ times during the months after the game. Now if only I could find a betamax recorder to play it on :confused:

Can't honestly remember the studio guests. Certainly the poison dwarf wasn't there. Giles yes and some other ex-footballer. Eoin Hand perhaps. Not sure who was hosting but they did find champagne from somewhere. .

It is my claim to fame that I was the only one of my group of 8 hardcore fans to take the afternoon off to watch the game. Hope springs eternal.

From what I remember the Rangers players pulled out of the squad ahead of the game ( I'm not saying it was anything other than coincidence) but can anyone confirm that, Cooper ,Durrant and maybe another?

[Stuttgart88]

My story is slightly different. I watched 85 mins of it in the UCD bar. A few of us had it on, attracting a few odd looks from the rest of the bar.

I left with only minutes to go. I had a date that evening in town with a girl I was after for ages. I walked home to Rathfarnham from Belfield (an hour's walk) to save bus fare money for 10 smokes later on.

I got home and my dad realised I didn't know the outcome. He said "can you believe they (Scotland) missed that chance?" He stuck the tape on, I saw the goal and just panicked for the remaing 5 mins, the ball shootiung across the goaline, hitting the post? and all that happened.

I then went into town for the date and in the same bar I met one of my old neighbours who was also a footy fan and we just talked about it for 3 hours. Needless to say the date didn't work out. Some things are more important.

[OwlsFan]

Imagine missing those last 5 minutes :eek: They'll stay with me until my dying day unless the Alzeimers kicks in before that ;).

As for the Rangers players pulling out, don't remember anything about that but since it was an irrelevant game for the Scots I wouldn't have been surprised by their top players pulling out. It was a wet and miserable day in Sofia. I am only now imagining what it must have been like for the Bulgars trudging home in the rain after that game, having fallen at the final hurdle and back to the grindstone of another day under communist rule. Mind you, they were a team of divers if memory serves me correctly and I didn't like them. Did Brady get sent off in our last game against them at Lansdowne in that campaign?

[Stuttgart88]

Yes, after playing a blinder. The red card put him out of the first couple of games in Germany though Jack would probably not have played him anyway. The red card was worth it for the continental style "fcuk you" gesture he made to his opponent leaving the pitch. Great game, great performance.

The away game in Bulgaria was won by a penalty for a foul outside the box by Moran I think. My cousin was at it and he said the army had their guns pointed very agitatedly at the Irish all during the game.

[Wolfie]

Imagine missing those last 5 minutes :eek: They'll stay with me until my dying day unless the Alzeimers kicks in before that ;).

As for the Rangers players pulling out, don't remember anything about that but since it was an irrelevant game for the Scots I wouldn't have been surprised by their top players pulling out. It was a wet and miserable day in Sofia. I am only now imagining what it must have been like for the Bulgars trudging home in the rain after that game, having fallen at the final hurdle and back to the grindstone of another day under communist rule. Mind you, they were a team of divers if memory serves me correctly and I didn't like them. Did Brady get sent off in our last game against them at Lansdowne in that campaign?

That Bulgarian team were a shower of dirty *******s!! Brady was sent off against the Bulgarians in Dublin when he finally lashed out in frustration to the heavy treatment he got all afternoon.

Moran was done for giving away a peno late in the game in Sofia as well.

I was 12 years of age but I can remember the Scotland v Bulgaria game vividly. I watched at home with my family.

Nobody gave Scotland an earthly of a chance as they had been dismantled by Belgium 4 nil in Brussels in that campaign and the away win in Sofia looked highly unlikely. All we had was blind optimism.

I remember on the build up to the Scottish goal, a Scottish player was absolutely pole axed on the sideline but the ref allowed play to continue. What a moment when the ball hit the net. Incredulous, unbridled joy.

I stand corrected on this, but I seem to remember a Scottish player flicking "V signs" at the Bulgarians in defiance as they ran back to the half way line. The Bulgarians had attempted to intimidate the Scots throughout the game and the goal was partly a gutsy response to that.

The Scottish goal then led a charmed life for the remainder of the game. Still don't know how they survived it.

I was delighted for myself but I was particularly happy for my Dad's generation who had long suffered the campaigns of near misses and heartbreaks.

Brilliant.

[Metrostars]

Yeah it was a Wednesday afternoon, I was at Galway RTC at the time so a few of us went to Flannery's hotel to watch it. It was surprising in those days that RTE would show a non-Ireland game but with the slight chance of an upset, they did. It was a given that our qualification was over and there were no hopes at all ready. Needless to say everyone was in shock when the ball was knocked in near the end. The start of a beautiful journey...

Look at that Scotland lineup that day, some great players in there:

Jim Leighton
Stevie Clark
Maurice Malpas
Roy Aitken
Alex McLeish
Gary Gillespie
Steve Nicol
Paul McStay
Graeme Sharp
Brian McClair
Ian Wilson
Subs:
Gary Mackay
Gordan Durie

[geysir]

Yeah it was a Wednesday afternoon, I was at Galway RTC at the time so a few of us went to Flannery's hotel to watch it. It was surprising in those days that RTE would show a non-Ireland game but with the slight chance of an upset, they did.
RTE did show the France 2 Netherlands 0 game from 1981 live, when the only realistic favourable outcome for us was a draw.

[Wolfie]

That Euro 88 campaign hinged on some memorable moments:

Brady putting away that peno with the last kick against Belgium away, beating Scotland away.

We actually went 1 nil down against Luxembourg at home but eventually beat them 2 - 1. Imagine the campaign could have floundered on that!!!

[gspain]

Graeme Souness never got the credit he deserved for that day. The Rangers players developed Ryan Giggs like injuries and had to withdraw thus allowing guys like Gary Mackay to get a callup. :D

Just started work in my first job the previous month and nervously joined a couple of colleagues who bunked off for an hour or so that afternoon to watch the 2nd half. Lots were going to Germany that afternoon but in the end none of the others did go. I was never going to miss it.

RTE did show the game but they didn't show the previous 2 Ireland games (v Bulgaria and Luxembourg) in the group if I recall correctly. They did show games like France v Holland 81 (a draw would have sent us to Espana82) but probably got the rights cheaply and didn't have to do much work to cover it. In many cases they only covered home games when it was lucrative for them and the away country wanted a feed.

[Noelys Guitar]

I was living in London (Acton)at the time. About 7 of us watching the England v Yugoslavia game while listening to the rare BBC radio 2 reports of the Bulgaria v Scotland game. With about 5 mins to go radio 2 went over to Bulgaria and the commentator said that If Scotland were to score Liam Brady who was a studio guest would send over a hamper of Champers. Cut back to England game for about 30 seconds then the commentator says and now we are cutting back to the Scotland game. No mention of Scotland scoring. As soon as they cut to the Scotland game and no crowd noise we knew Scotland had scored. Commentator "And Liam Brady will now have to go out and buy a hamper of Champagne as GAry McKay has just scored for Scotland" Cue mental scenes of various pieces of furniture flying around. Just incredible day.

[mypost]

As far as I know, only one home game was shown live that campaign, the Scotland game, but all the away games were shown live. RTE didn't want to cut into it's Bosco :D repeats on a Wednesday afternoon, when the home games were played.

Bulgaria v Scotland was a 3.30ko that afternoon here. Bulgaria hadn't lost at home for years, and Scotland were long since out of the group. A shock was unlikely, especially as the Bulgars hit the woodwork twice by half time. They seemed to settle for 0-0 in the second half, and Scotland never remotely looked like scoring, even from McKay's shot initally. IIRC, it was Scotland's only shot of the match. The home side didn't take losing very well, and rained shots down on Leighton until the end. Somehow the ball stayed out, and Bulgaria had to wait until scoring in the last minute in Paris, before making it to another finals. :)

It turned out to be the goal that kept Charlton in a job. Apparantly, the FAI would have got rid of him had we not qualified.

[OwlsFan]

The home side didn't take losing very well, and rained shots down on Leighton until the end. Somehow the ball stayed out, and Bulgaria had to wait until scoring in the last minute in Paris, before making it to another finals. :)

I swore and swore at the television during those last gut wrenching minutes, not at the ref or the Bulgarians but at George Hamilton! Some day I shall try and find my betamax copy of that game and transfer it to dvd and prepare a voice transcipt of George at his finest. He was using phrases such as "It's time to crack open the champagne bottles -ooooohhh, it's off the post!!!!" and "Let's open our Deutche Reise books (showing off his German) - ooooohhh, it's cleared off the line". I exaggerate not. He had not only counted his chickens but he was eating them as well, as the Bulgarians bombarded the goal. I screamed like a madman at him to shut up but on and on he went. If they had equalised, I believe I would have murdered the man.

[Stuttgart88]

I remember George alright. Excruciating. I think it goes to prove that he's not a fan, just a reporter. As Geysir said, we've been paying for it since, Bratislava being the most recent.

[NeilMcD]

Yeah my first campaign was the qualifiers for Euro 88. I thought it was like this everytime:)

[Stuttgart88]

We got lucky right at the start of the campaign too, with Jean-Marie Pfaff going walkabout to bring down Stapleton needlessly in the dying minutes in Brussels. Brady's conversion of the resulting penalty just exuded calmness. Payback I guess for Brussels in '81.

The home form was pretty poor that year: 0-0 draws at home to Belgium and Scotland and a late winner to beat Luxembourg 2-1. We then beat Bulgaria 2-0 which was more like it.

[mypost]

We got lucky right at the start of the campaign too, with Jean-Marie Pfaff going walkabout to bring down Stapleton needlessly in the dying minutes in Brussels. Brady's conversion of the resulting penalty just exuded calmness. Payback I guess for Brussels in '81.

Before the peno, Hamo was going on about Brady missing a pen there in the 1980 CWC-final. :rolleyes: What relevance it had to him taking a penalty for Ireland 6 years later, I still don't know. :confused:

The game against Belgium in '81 was in March, we had 7-8 months to make up the ground. Drawing in Holland in September, and letting France only lose 3-2 in October instead of 3-1, was more important in deciding who went through.


we've been paying for it since, Bratislava being the most recent.

No, the day we paid for it, was when Macedonia scored in the last minute in '99, which allowed Yugoslavia to go through instead of us. :(

[Wolfie]

Before the peno, Hamo was going on about Brady missing a pen there in the 1980 CWC-final. :rolleyes: What relevance it had to him taking a penalty for Ireland 6 years later, I still don't know. :confused:

The game against Belgium in '81 was in March, we had 7-8 months to make up the ground. Drawing in Holland in September, and letting France only lose 3-2 in October instead of 3-1, was more important in deciding who went through.



No, the day we paid for it, was when Macedonia scored in the last minute in '99, which allowed Yugoslavia to go through instead of us. :(

Although some of the balance was restored with our late, albeit totally deserved, equaliser against the Germans in the 2002 finals.

We're still owed for the Croatia away goal in the 93rd minute in 1998.

[geysir]

The game against Belgium in '81 was in March, we had 7-8 months to make up the ground. Drawing in Holland in September, and letting France only lose 3-2 in October instead of 3-1, was more important in deciding who went through.
A 3-1 win against France instead of 3-2 would not have made any important difference to the goal difference.
After their game against Cyprus, France had a 4 goal better goal difference than us.

[RiffRaff]

I remember watching this on tv only because i was on the rock'n'roll and had nothing better to do. It had all the signs of a depressing day, being completely skint, watching the most boring game imaginable on this black and white tv that you could just about make out the out the picture on if you closed all the curtains. Scotland made no effort to get a win for us, the Bulgarians thought the Scots were so bad, they just had to go through the motions. The goal seemed to come almost by accident and set up a frantic finale. Like lots of other people, i thought someone up there had destined that Ireland would never ever play in a finals. I couldnt believe it had actually happened for hours afterwards.

[Metrostars]

My story is slightly different. I watched 85 mins of it in the UCD bar. A few of us had it on, attracting a few odd looks from the rest of the bar.

I left with only minutes to go. I had a date that evening in town with a girl I was after for ages. I walked home to Rathfarnham from Belfield (an hour's walk) to save bus fare money for 10 smokes later on.

I got home and my dad realised I didn't know the outcome. He said "can you believe they (Scotland) missed that chance?" He stuck the tape on, I saw the goal and just panicked for the remaing 5 mins, the ball shootiung across the goaline, hitting the post? and all that happened.

I then went into town for the date and in the same bar I met one of my old neighbours who was also a footy fan and we just talked about it for 3 hours. Needless to say the date didn't work out. Some things are more important.


Valuable lesson learnt by young stuttgart that day: soccer over women!

[gspain]

Before the peno, Hamo was going on about Brady missing a pen there in the 1980 CWC-final. :rolleyes: What relevance it had to him taking a penalty for Ireland 6 years later, I still don't know. :confused:

The game against Belgium in '81 was in March, we had 7-8 months to make up the ground. Drawing in Holland in September, and letting France only lose 3-2 in October instead of 3-1, was more important in deciding who went through.



No, the day we paid for it, was when Macedonia scored in the last minute in '99, which allowed Yugoslavia to go through instead of us. :(

As has been pointed out we wouldn't have caught the French on GD. they also had cyprus last match.

Only drawing in Holland against the beaten finalists for the previous 2 world cups was hardly where we let it slip. We lost qualification in Brussels pure and simple thanks to Mr. Nazare. Lets just say it didn't come as a surprise to discover years later that the leading club in Belgium at the time (Anderlect)were subsequently done for bribing referees in european matches.

[geysir]

Valuable lesson learnt by young stuttgart that day: soccer over women!
Even a serious dose of the lovesick blues had an instant cure.

[lowroadrover]

You're making me feel old .I was in Sligo RTC in a lab when the news came through on the radio. Maybe Souness will do us another favour and leave the Ireland job alone

[spaceghost]

twenty years.
i remember it like yesterday,i was thirteen,i watched it with me dad in peter clarks on dublin street, from what i remember every programme on rte that night showed the goal, it was the start of that unbelivable rollercoaster for the next nine years under charlton, dunphy ,keano and the rest of the "purists" can say all they want about not playing good football etc.. but those years will say with me for the rest of my life.i still get goosebumps watching euro 88 italia 90 on reeling in the years. we were proud to be irish,we could beat anyone, bring on the world:D



how things have changed:(

[stojkovic]

We lost qualification in Brussels pure and simple thanks to Mr. Nazare. Lets just say it didn't come as a surprise to discover years later that the leading club in Belgium at the time (Anderlect)were subsequently done for bribing referees in european matches.

I would love to see that game again.

In the first half Stapleton had a perfectly good goal dissallowed for no reason whatsoever. I think a Belgian ran into the ref as Stapo slotted in Bradys free kick.

Then in the last minute Eric Gerets tripping over his beard and diving twenty feet to earn a free kick. Then Ceulemans fouling Seamus McDonagh to head in the winner.

The ref had to be protected leaving the pitch because of the abuse the Irish players gave him.

I was waiting for Jeremy Beadle to come on and say it was all just a joke.

[mypost]

We're still owed for the Croatia away goal in the 93rd minute in 1998.

Albania (h), 2003?? :confused:


Only drawing in Holland against the beaten finalists for the previous 2 world cups was hardly where we let it slip. We lost qualification in Brussels pure and simple thanks to Mr. Nazare. Lets just say it didn't come as a surprise to discover years later that the leading club in Belgium at the time (Anderlect)were subsequently done for bribing referees in european matches.

Anderlecht weren't "done" for bribing a ref. The situation was "revealed" about 15 years later, but UEFA decided not to take any action against them.

As pointed out before, the game against Holland, being in September, would be more accurate in where we let qualification slip. Holland were going through a transitional phase at the time, and failed to make another tournament until '88. We were in front in the game, but we couldn't hold on to it, and we lost the extra point.

As far as I know, the ref of the game against Italy in Rome (Carlos Silva Valente, Portugal) was the same ref as the one in Brussels. And we got nothing from him against the hosts in 1990 either. :rolleyes:

[gspain]

Albania (h), 2003?? :confused:



Anderlecht weren't "done" for bribing a ref. The situation was "revealed" about 15 years later, but UEFA decided not to take any action against them.

As pointed out before, the game against Holland, being in September, would be more accurate in where we let qualification slip. Holland were going through a transitional phase at the time, and failed to make another tournament until '88. We were in front in the game, but we couldn't hold on to it, and we lost the extra point.

As far as I know, the ref of the game against Italy in Rome (Carlos Silva Valente, Portugal) was the same ref as the one in Brussels. And we got nothing from him against the hosts in 1990 either. :rolleyes:

OK Anderlect were proven to have bribed referees at the time.

We never lead in Holland. We trailed twice and came back. That was a fantastic draw. It was my first away game and we were expecting a tanking.

The referee in Brussels was Nazare and a different ref from the one in Rome. Although we had dodgy refereeing decisions in the past we were never really totally done as in Brussels. Sofia 77 may come close although the French were done there too.

I remember at the time discussions saying if this was someplace Bulgaria we'd be sure the referee was bribed but the Belgians wouldn't bribe a referee. Now it is obvious they clearly did.

[Stuttgart88]

As far as I know, the ref of the game against Italy in Rome (Carlos Silva Valente, Portugal) was the same ref as the one in Brussels. And we got nothing from him against the hosts in 1990 either. :rolleyes:I actually remember Kevin Moran, aghast at repeatedly being penalised in the air, jumping up with his hands behind his back (or somewhere blatantly out of the way) and even still he was penalised for pushing.

He did give us a free kick on the edge of their box in injury time and I think he allowed for it to be retaken too. Sheridan fluffed it each time.

(sorry, just saw GS's post - rendering the above irrelevant!)

[Wolfie]

I would love to see that game again.

In the first half Stapleton had a perfectly good goal dissallowed for no reason whatsoever. I think a Belgian ran into the ref as Stapo slotted in Bradys free kick.

Then in the last minute Eric Gerets tripping over his beard and diving twenty feet to earn a free kick. Then Ceulemans fouling Seamus McDonagh to head in the winner.

The ref had to be protected leaving the pitch because of the abuse the Irish players gave him.

I was waiting for Jeremy Beadle to come on and say it was all just a joke.

I was too young to remember that game when it took place but I've seen the footage of the goal.

The shot hit the crossbar and came back out to Ceulemans who was shoving against McDonagh. Ball hits the net, Belgians wheel away in celebration and Moran and McDonagh slump to the muddy ground.

There's footage of the Irish bench, every one of them with their heads in their hands. What a sickener. :( :( :(

[OwlsFan]

Tell me about it. I was at the game. Which made Sofia 1987 all the more sweet. The years of waiting were over. I remember getting a lump in my throat as RTE showed the Aer Lingus plane bearing the team landing in Germany.

We had arrived at last.

[geysir]

You were probably still in a state of disbelief up until that plane landed :)
That news that Ireland had qualified in 1987, became our "where were you when you heard the news".

[Wolfie]

You were probably still in a state of disbelief up until that plane landed :)
That news that Ireland had qualified in 1987, became our "where were you when you heard the news".

Con Houlihan memorably wrote that he was in a small deserted pub in the company of a few bar flies................and a small dog.

[geysir]

Luxury:) I could only dream of being in such surroundings then.

I was doing a job in an isolated fjord north west of Iceland, I came home with absolutely not the slightest hope of a Scottish victory but I couldn't get a reception for the BBC WS on my SW radio, in a semi blizzard I climbed a 400m hill and managed to get the 17.45 sports news headlines, hiding behind a huge rock, frozen snot all over my face.