Foot.ie decides - Ireland's best goal!

[Eminence Grise]

McAteer for me. Ireland putting it up to a top class team, and playing like we belonged there. Plus, since I'm from originally from Stretford, anything that makes Van Gaal look glum has to be worth extra credit (even if it's thanks to a Scouser!) McGeady - fine skill but against a weaker team, albeit our bogeys.

[geysir]

McAteer for me. Ireland putting it up to a top class team, and playing like we belonged there. Plus, since I'm from originally from Stretford, anything that makes Van Gaal look glum has to be worth extra credit (even if it's thanks to a Scouser!) McGeady - fine skill but against a weaker team, albeit our bogeys.

Way past the time to move on EG.

[pineapple stu]

So an 8-3 win for Jason, and he takes third spot. Though I'm tempted to give Stutts double points for the best reason of the whole competition so far!

DeLorean raises the interesting question actually of whether McAteer was the only player with more than one senior goal who had all of them nominated for this competition? (Ashley Grimes, Kevin O'Callaghan, Liam Miller, Marc Wilson, Seáni Maguire and Anthony Pilkington had their only senior goal nominated)

But a weightier question to be answered first off. It's time for the final. Which was the greatest (senior, men's, televised) Ireland goal of all time?

Was it Ronnie Whelan N v USSR 1988? Or Aiden McGeady A v Georgia 2014? All will be decided in the next 24 hours

Group - Winner Group C ahead of James McClean A v Wales 2017, Kevin Sheedy N v England 1990, Keith Andrews A v Italy 2011, Robbie Keane N v Saudi Arabia 2002, and Kevin O'Callaghan H v Malta 1983.
Last 32 - won 12-0 v Kevin Doyle H v Andorra 2010
Last 16 - won 9-2 v Matt Holland N v Cameroon 2002
QF - won 9-2 v Matt Holland A v Portugal 2000
SF - won 8-3 v Alan McLoughlin A v Northern Ireland 1993

[pineapple stu]

Group - winner Group B ahead of Robbie Keane A v Holland 2004, Steve Staunton H v USSR 1990, Ray Houghton N v England 1988, Andy Townsend H v Northern Ireland 1993, and Robbie Keane N v Nigeria 2009
Last 32 - won 11-0 v Matt Holland A v Estonia 2001
Last 16 - won 11-0 v Andy Reid H v Cyprus 2005
Last 8 - won 9-3 v Kevin Doyle A v Slovakia 2007
SF - won 7-4 v Jason McAteer A v Holland 2000

[DeLorean]

McGeady.

Perfection versus imperfection.

The fact that this piece of skill is actually named after Aiden emphasises its greatness. It's not just a one-off moment that he'd never tried before or since, it's years of dedication to a skill coming to fruition at a crucial moment of a big game, with his team desperate to win but all out of ideas.

Whelan's is iconic, it cemented our arrival as a footballing nation on the world stage. Full credit to him for attempting such an outlandish, acrobatic shot on goal, but at the end of the day it's mistimed, he gets it wrong but also gets very, very lucky.

In short, Whelan's is a bit of a fluke. McGeady's is Ireland's best goal.

[tetsujin1979]

Whelan.

I don't think it's a fluke, Whelan certainly had the ability to make that shot. The whole "it came off his shin" argument is immaterial in my opinion - I'm still not sure if Rooney's bicycle kick against City came off his boot or his ankle - and in either case, whether or not it comes off his boot or not doesn't take anything away from the actual goal. The Soviet Union went on to finish runners up in that tournament, thanks to another wonder strike, we were making our first appearance at an international tournament, and we score one of the goals of the tournament against them, a goal that is still talked about more than thirty years later, and not just by Ireland fans.

McGeady's goal shades it from a skill point of view, I said when I voted for it that no other Irish player could have made that shot, and I stand by that. There's a few that have attempted bicycle kicks - I still wonder what would have happened if Shane Long's attempt at home against Austria hadn't been saved - but none of the goals we've scored at international tournaments come close in terms of difficulty, strength of opposition, and just sheer amazement to Whelan's, and that's why it's my choice.

[NeverFeltBetter]

I'll go with McGeady. Whelan's has the advantage in terms of sheer athleticism, the occasion and the quality of the opposition, but there is a large element of, as much as I dislike the term and the negative connotation, fluke to it. I don't mean to say the goal was a totally random happenstance, just that Whelan reacted in the moment by just thinking "**** it" and going for a crazy attempt, that 99 other times would have gone sailing away from goal.

McGeady's goal, despite the limited opposition, is a calculated thing, and that's what makes it great. Taking the ball down, shrugging off the defender, then the step-over to make space, then the finish. To be clear, I don't think it's Ireland's best goal personally - I'm not sure what I would pick from the choices overall, maybe McAteer vs Holland - but I do value it higher than Whelan's.

[Eirambler]

Whelan - it's imperfect and yet perfect at the same time. Unfortunately I don't remember the goal being scored live, I was 6 and my only memory from Euro 88 is watching the England game. My Ireland journey only properly started during the Italia 90 qualifiers.

I hope to be watching Ireland at major finals for decades to come but I can't imagine that we'll ever score a finals goal as good again. McGeady's is a brilliant piece of skill and deserves its place in the final, but Whelan's is the most outstanding, iconic, unbelievable goal we've ever scored.

[Stuttgart88]

Either would be a deserving winner. But McGeady despite the lesser occasion.

The shin imperfection is critical for me.

[osarusan]

Whelan. The courage to try it is enough for me. I don't think any Irish player has even come close to succeeding at something as audacious.

Also, if some other website somewhere decides to talk about how 'Foot.ie has voted for Ireland's best ever goal' it's better for Whelan to be the winner than McGeady.

[jbyrne]

two excellent goals but its whelan for me. the fact that it hit his shin is irrelevant. nothing lucky about it either as he was obviously trying to score

[Eminence Grise]

It’s Whelan for me.

Both goals are something only special players are capable of – that combination of self-belief, audacity, skill and the ability to compress time so things move in slow motion around you while you speed up.

But a goal is more than technique or build-up play, or match and opposition. You can even make an argument that with all the random elements that have to combine perfectly every goal is more likely down to chance than not.

There is an emotional aspect for a fan that is important as well, and for a fourteen-year old watching that at home, listening to Dad say a few minutes after Whelan scored that if we got to the final he’d buy a new telly for the occasion* was a sign of the excitement that swept us all up.

There is also an historical context that frames the moment. Looking back, I believe Whelan’s goal validated Houghton’s header against England. The narrative after the first game (especially in the English papers) was unlucky England, a fluke from Ireland via the granny rule, and we would be found out very quickly. When Whelan scored, it negated all that. We weren’t pushovers – for a moment, we were contenders, the Dutch were relieved to beat us – while here was the son of another Irish international bridging the present and the near-miss generations. And it was glorious.

We cheered when McGeady scored. Whelan elevated us.

That’s my tuppence worth.

* He held out till '89.

[seanfhear]

Whelan. Good control with the Shin, Not easy.

[CraftyToePoke]

Whelan.

Shin or no shin, all shin half ankle, no matter, its a childhood high memory.

[Stuttgart88]

Jeez, all this childhood memory talk is making me feel old. Geysir & I grown men when Whelan scored. Childhood memories for me include Brady's goal v France. Even Grealish's screamer v Cyprus (was that ever entered into this competition?) was when I was a teenager.

[Kingdom]

I have to vote for Aiden McGeady.

I love Ronnie Whelan's goal - I don't agree that only a special player could do it, every person who has ever kicked a football has the possibility to strike a ball towards goal like he did. And it's amazing.

But only special - mercurial even - players could think of doing what Aiden did, nevermind pull it off, in the last minute of a critical Euro qualifier that we needed to win. What's worse, I actually don't think too many people actually rate, or even recall the goal. Bizarrely.

Aiden McGeady hands down for me.

[passinginterest]

Ronnie for me, iconic, footballing brilliance to improvise a shot out of nothing. Sorry to the auld lads, but I'm fairly sure it's my first actual footballing memory (I was 5) and it was the reason I started to follow Liverpool (despite my Dad having Man U leanings and all my cousins following Arsenal). McGeady's is a good goal but there's few outside of Ireland who it really made a mark on. Ronnie's will always be a part of any review of great championship goals.

[Fixer82]

McGeady just shades it

[brine3]

A lot of people going for the blinders from far out...

My favourite goals would be the peil iomlán type, with lots of teamwork and passes and flicks. My top three would be...
3. Robbie Keane vs France in Paris. Lovely one two between Duff and Kilbane, and then Duff drags it back to Keane from the endline. Lovely.
2. Robbie Keane vs Holland in Amsterdam in 2000. (I think there were something like 15-20 passes within the team before the goal, with some nice backheels. And then little Keane scoring with a header against a giant totem pole Dutchman.
1. McAteer vs Holland at Home in 2001. Harte dummying a Dutch player and passing to Roy Keane, Roy Keane making a fool out of Van Bommel, Duffer passing to Finnan, Finnan jinking it past Cocu, Duffer selling Stam for a dummy header (can't beat that), McAteer ghosting into the left wing even though he was playing on the right. Total football. And to think we were down to 10 men.

[EAFC_rdfl]

I'm going McGeady, a very unique goal