It’s thirty-five years since the whole country was enthralled by the endeavours of the Irish soccer team at the World Cup finals in Italy. John Scally recalls the excitement of the time and speaks to some of those who were central to that unforgettable adventure.

 

It is one of the most glorious chapters in Irish sporting history. Thirty-five years ago this summer Irish sporting fans went into frenzy because of Italia ’90.

After a less-than-impressive start to the group, Ireland qualified for the 1990 World Cup Finals conceding only two goals. Ireland’s first match at a World Cup finals competition was against the auld enemy England. The English were seeking revenge for their surprise defeat by the Irish in the opening group match at Euro ‘88.

Once again Bobby Robson’s English team was expected to beat Ireland and his players underlined that by taking an early lead through an eighth-minute goal from Gary Lineker. Despite Ireland getting a greater foothold in the second half an equaliser was elusive until an error by Steve McMahon allowed Kevin Sheedy to drill home in the 73rd minute.

Then came Ireland’s game with Egypt that famously inspired football pundit Eamon Dunphy to throw his pen across the RTÉ TV studio in apparent disgust and proclaim that he was ashamed of the Irish performance. In fairness to Dunphy it was a truly shockingly turgid affair as the two teams played out a sterile 0-0 draw. It appeared that Egypt did not want to be beaten and played with eleven men behind the ball while the Irish stuck rigidly to the Jack Charlton style of football, relying on the long ball.

In view of Egypt’s lack of ambition the Irish had the opportunity, and the talent, to get the ball down and string some passing moves together. Despite this the Irish persisted with the long ball tactics. Although Ireland had the better chances, including a close effort from Kevin Sheedy late on, Charlton and his players had to settle for a second draw in the group.

The third match of Group F was against the Dutch who had beaten the Irish in the last group match of Euro ‘88. The Dutch were the reigning European champions and their team was packed with supreme talents of Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten, and Frank Rijkaard amongst others. The team for the match also included Vim Kieft who scored the somewhat fortunate winning goal against Ireland in Gelsenkirchen in 1988. The Dutch got off to a great start via a goal from Gullit after ten minutes.

As with the opening match against England, Ireland applied greater pressure in the second half. This bore fruit after 71 minutes when the Dutch failed to deal with a long ball from Packie Bonner and Niall Quinn slid the ball home from close range. As England had registered the only win in the group, beating Egypt, the three European teams progressed into the next round.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own