20 years to the day that.....

**OwlsFan** · 11/11/2007, 3:26 PM

....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

Ni feicimid a leitheid aris. Pure magic.

**stojkovic** · 11/11/2007, 6:05 PM

Aye remember it well.

Got the phonecall in work that the jocks had won.

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

**NeilMcD** · 11/11/2007, 6:07 PM

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

**geysir** · 11/11/2007, 6:12 PM

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** · 11/11/2007, 8:52 PM

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** · 12/11/2007, 12:56 AM

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

**willk1977** · 12/11/2007, 8:53 AM

what paper was that in mate ?

**macdermesser** · 12/11/2007, 8:56 AM

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** · 12/11/2007, 10:25 AM

Originally Posted by jmurphyc

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** · 12/11/2007, 10:38 AM

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

**Seano** · 12/11/2007, 10:46 AM

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** · 12/11/2007, 10:48 AM

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** · 12/11/2007, 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

**geysir** · 12/11/2007, 10:53 AM

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/an...r-1216623.html

**OwlsFan** · 12/11/2007, 11:01 AM

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

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** · 12/11/2007, 11:02 AM

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** · 12/11/2007, 11:04 AM

Originally Posted by 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

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

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** · 12/11/2007, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by 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

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** · 12/11/2007, 11:27 AM

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** · 12/11/2007, 12:32 PM

Imagine missing those last 5 minutes

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?