The happiest moment in Irish football

Shaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnneeeeee LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG!

I'm a little bit surprised that those 2 or 3 minutes at Croke Park v Italy aren't getting a mention. Now, we all know what happened afterwards but those couple of minutes were absolutely incredible. There has never been a game with over 65,000 Irish fans like that. That said, while those few minutes were incredible, the top five for me personally would be:


Shane Long against Germany, and the final whistle - I never thought I'd see the day when Ireland could beat the world champions, especially not a team who had demolished Brazil, in Brazil, in a world cup semi final, just over a year earlier. That's leaving aside the shellacking the Germans had delivered on their last trip to Lansdowne Road. It was made all the sweeter by having my dad there too, especially as he only goes to about half of the home games, and celebrating with him. No one expected it and to be honest I know before the match we were expecting a defeat. The belief at half time that there was something there to get out of the game, and the sort-of-good news that Scotland weren't winning, where a draw was good enough to get the playoff, meant there was something definite to play for, and a chance for it to happen.... but the celebrations were incredible, and the timing perfect. I'd celebrated madly before (in Gelsenkirchen and in Paris) but nothing like that. Even Robbie Brady in Lille wasn't as good as that. The long ball and the realisation that the Germans had fallen asleep for a second, a chink in their dominance exposed, as Long ran in, and the realisation that there wasn't going to be a better chance, coupled with the smashing finish, meant the place had to lift off, and the roar was incredible, and it felt like the team were truly at home in Lansdowne Road for the first time since redevelopment. While the goal came late enough, obviously there was still time, and the last twenty minutes were glorious tension, with the ecstatic relief at the final whistle almost as good as the goal itself. You can't beat beating the world champions.


Robbie Brady against Italy - It's a close second. While Euro 2016 was the first time I'd ever seen Ireland get out of a group stage at a major tournament, I'd still rank Shane Long's goal higher, especially because it was at home, and the joy of celebrating with 50,000 others. Italy were playing a second string and there was deflation when Hoolahan missed that chance, and I couldn't help but feel that while the team got through, it was more because Italy had nothing to play for than it was on absolute, uncontestable merit. It was incredible all the same, especially coming late, especially with what it meant, but it was a notch below Shane Long's goal for me personally, at least in terms of the celebrations. The hot, sticky night didn't help, and the fact everyone in the stadium, fans included, were suffering in the draining conditions, but the release of the goal made up for all that and then some.


John O'Shea against Germany - the pre-match montage of thanks from the German fans to the team for winning the world cup, through to the delerium of the 94th minute equaliser, in the world champions back yard, and the celebrations that followed, have this above qualifying for a tournament in my memories. While the performance was dogged and diligent rather than fantastically free flowing, there is something very hard to beat about injury time goals, when there is no time for the opposition to come back. I was hoarse from singing and basically out of energy completely come injury time, thinking there was no way I would be able to celebrate if we scored. Even when the ball came into the box, like everyone I thought the chance was dead until Hendrick cushioned the ball back into the middle from the back post for O'Shea to knock home. I didn't cop until after the match that it was actually O'Shea who had got the goal, and it was the usual deal of ending up a few rows in front with bruises on my shins, such were the celebrations. Adrenaline did the trick when the ball went in anyway, and despite the lack of food, sleep and energy, and the fact the drink taken had long since been sweated out, the celebrations were incredible.


Robbie Keane's first against Estonia - I had never before seen Ireland qualify for a major tournament, and barely remember the game v the North in 1993, let alone the Malta game in 1989. My only real memories of playoffs start with the Anfield game, then the well known games against Belgium, Turkey, Iran and France... so I only knew one success from five. While most of us were cautiously optimistic heading into that game in Tallinn, I think everyone thought Estonia weren't pushovers. I didn't get a ticket for the game from the FAI (I barely had any record of attending games at the time, and knew nothing about the opaque nature of FAI away ticket allocation, and just assumed there was a system which I didn't qualify under) but figured the best place to get tickets was outside the ground. So we headed out about two hours before hand, found a local supermarket, got a few cans for walking around (and to help in negotiations), and set about looking for touts selling tickets. We were losing hope and seriously considering heading back into town (even if it meant missing a decent part of the first half) until about five or ten minutes before kick off we met a lad selling tickets. He was originally looking €150 each for the tickets, and we were thinking closer to €150 for the pair. I think eventually he realised we didn't have that sort of money and, with kick off approaching, decided he would do no better, and sold us the pair. I can't remember the exact price but it was definitely under €200 total, maybe €90 each, along with our last few cans. Anyway, the seats turned out to be right behind the dug outs... I mean, right behind the Ireland dug out, so close that the players from the squad who didn't make the final 18 (there was none of this "full squad of 25" at the time) were sitting behind us, as we were in row two, so we had to stand to avoid having our view obscured by the dug out. When the first went in, we didn't really celebrate, and kept our jackets on, not knowing what to expect. By the time of the second, we figured it was clear enough and okay to show we were Irish fans (I think helped by our proximity to the dug out) and by the third, after celebrating, there was a moment when I think everyone just realised what it meant and knew, completely, that there was no way this was going to backfire now, and that qualification was secure. I'd never experienced that before, knowing without doubt, and it was incredible, even if it didn't have the same euphoric release goals like Long's, Brady's and O'Shea's brought. The same feeling of knowing it was done didn't arrive against Bosnia until, bizarrely enough, they hit the crossbar in injury time in Dublin, even if it looked pretty good after Walters' second, and while the celebrations there were great, they didn't reach the same level as the first time in Estonia. I don't know why; maybe it is because it was the first time we had qualified for anything in 12 years, maybe it was because I felt that qualifying for a 24 team tournament wasn't as good as qualifying for a 16 team one, or maybe it was just because it was the first time I had experienced that feeling at the end of a qualification slog. Whatever, that realisation in Tallinn was brilliant and one of the happiest moments I have from following the team. Robbie Brady's goal in Zenica was incredible (for what we saw of it) and the celebrations after Walters' second at home pretty good too, but neither of those are as good as the feeling I had after the third in Tallinn, when it was clear there was basically no way of missing out on qualification.


Robbie Keane against France - I'd have this one fifth. The team went into the game with close to zero expectation, after the deflation a few days earlier, and turned in one of the best performances I've ever seen the team put in. The goal was coming, the cutback and finish both superb, and two of the finest players I've ever seen in green combining for it. I am like many others here, when I say I ended up a few rows in front of where I started, with scrapes and bruises all over my legs from falling forwards over the crappy little Stade de France seats, after the celebrations. The abiding memory, though, is still "what if", from the great performance of Hugo Lloris, the missed chances of the same two players, and the unknowable of what would have happened in a shootout had that goal been rightly disallowed. The bitter sight of all those French flags at the final whistle still annoys me, knowing they'd barely deserved it. Obviously I didn't know it was a blatant handball at the time, but the impression at the time was clear, that Ireland were the better team, that the French crowd had spent more time getting on the team's back than cheering them on, and that the goal was dodgy. While the celebrations were manic, and the first like that I ever experienced following Ireland, I can't put it over the four above.


Honorable mentions to Brady's penalty against France, St Ledger's header against Italy, Steven Ireland's goal in Croker against Wales, McGeady's classy late late winner in Tbilisi and the final whistle of the nervy home win over Armenia to make the playoffs in 2011 in the first place.


Edited by SuperDave84 - 06 Oct 2016 at 3:21am

McAteeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I would rank Brady's goal against Italy just above Shane Long! First time I have ever been in tears over a football match.