Always wondered - so looked it up over Christmas:
Any missing? please add!
Code:Irish Players to appear in European Finals European Cup Winners Cup Year Players Team Opponent Venue Result 1971 John Dempsey Chelsea v Real Madrid Athens 2-1 Replay after 1-1 Draw Paddy Mulligan 1980 David O'Leary Arsenal v Valencia Brussels 0-0 Lost 6-5 on pens Liam Brady Frank Stapelton 1984 Mickey Walsh FC Porto v Juventus Basel 1-2 1985 Kevin Sheedy Everton v Rapid Vienna Rotterdam 3-1 1991 Denis Iwirn Manchester United v Barcelona Rotterdam 2-1 1994 Eddie McGoldrick Arsenal v Parma Copenhagen 1-0 UEFA Cup / Europa League 1972 Joe Kinnear Tottenham v Wolves 2-3 on agg 1973 Steve Highway Liverpool v Br. Moenchengladbach 3-2 on agg 1976 Steve Highway Liverpool v Club Brugge 4-3 on agg 1984 Chris Hughton Tottenham Hotspur v Anderlecht 2-2 on agg 4-3 on pens Tony Galvin 2010 Damien Duff Fulham v Athletico Madrid Hamburg 1-2 European Cup / Champions League 1968 Shay Brennan Manchester United v Benfica London 4-1 Tony Dunne 1975 Johnny Giles Leeds United v Bayern Munich Paris 0-2 1977 Steve Heighway Liverpool v Br. Moenchengladbach Rome 3-1 1978 Steve Heighway Liverpool v Club Brugge London 1-0 1984 Mark Lawrensen Liverpool v AS Roma Rome 1-1 won 4-3 on pens Ronnie Whelan Michael Robinson 1985 Jim Beglin Liverpool v Juventus Brussels 0-1 Mark Lawrensen Ronnie Whelan 1999 Denis Iwirn Manchester United v Bayern Munich Barcelona 2-1 2005 Steve Finnan Liverpool v AC Milan Istanbul 3-3 won 3-1 on pens 2007 Steve Finnan Liverpool v AC Milan Athens 1-2 2009 John O'Shea Manchester United v Barcelona Rome 0-2
For the record : John Dempsey Chelsea v Madrid 71' CWC final replay and Kevin Sheedy Everton v Vienna 85' CWC Final are the 2 Irish players to score in Major European Finals.
Noel Cantwell, then of West Ham United, played in the second leg of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup:
01.05.1958 Barcelona 6-0 London XI (first leg was 2-2 at Stamford Bridge).
Best I can tell, Cantwell was the first Irish-born player to feature in a European club final.
...Schwanholz, Herisau: a little bit of heaven...
Noel Cantwell, then of West Ham United, played in the second leg of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup:
01.05.1958 Barcelona 6-0 London XI (first leg was 2-2 at Stamford Bridge).
Best I can tell, Cantwell was the first Irish-born player to feature in a European club final.
Think Giles played in the 67-68 and 70-71 Fairs Cup finals also?
...Schwanholz, Herisau: a little bit of heaven...
Mickey Walsh is interesting as the only Irish player to play in a final not representing an English side.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
I assume you're not counting the Intertoto, the Super Cup or Northern Ireland as part of Ireland! ;-)
Giles also played in the bizarre Fairs Cup winner-gets-to-keep-the-trophy playoff v Barcelona in 1971.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-...rophy_Play-Off
I see we had an Irish player in each of the three finals in 1984, and four players in the three finals in 1984 and 1985.
No, No and No! On No.3 - I just meant Republic of Ireland capped players I guess.
Great bit of trivia that is.
Another good one I stumbled across when researching this : The first Republic of Ireland player to play in a group stage of a major European Competition?
The Glory days indeed.
He doesn't quite make the list, but an interesting name and story all the same; Glasgow-born Charlie Gallagher, who was our first Scotland-born international, was part of Celtic's 1966-67 squad that lifted the European Cup, although he didn't actually play in the game itself. Teams were limited to just a substitute goalkeeper then.
Off topic, but it a European Final (albeit an English FA Cup Final), I wonder is Mick McGrath the only Irish man ever to score an OG in an FA Cup Final https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_FA_Cup_Final
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Bookmarks