San (Stan) Marino 10 years on

Watched the game at home. We looked to see the game out at 1-0, despite been under no pressure whatsoever, so nothing like a San Marino goal then to wake the players, up. Those last 8 minutes were more entertaining than the previous 86. In the end, it was just another team winning a game in San Marino.

Staunton said he would be happy with a narrow win and that's what he got. His only saving grace being that it was the last ever live Ireland game on TV3, so no Dunphy around to kick him backwards and sideways. Matt Holland was never going to kick his mate. Instead Dunphy had to wait until the Gerry Ryan Show the next day to rehash his usual rants at the time.

irishmufc wrote: Stretchryan wrote: Fine head of hair on him too.   He got the transplant by the time of the away game in Slovakia and apparently was sensitive to the sl*gging. Don't know how much truth was in that story.   He took his goal brilliantly in that away game after a smart dummy by Keane. Fantastic first touch very classy cool finish.   And to think he's still only 30 years old. Would've been a great asset to have if he had a good attitude.

TonyNotJack wrote: irishmufc wrote: Stretchryan wrote: Fine head of hair on him too.   He got the transplant by the time of the away game in Slovakia and apparently was sensitive to the sl*gging. Don't know how much truth was in that story.   He took his goal brilliantly in that away game after a smart dummy by Keane. Fantastic first touch very classy cool finish.   And to think he's still only 30 years old. Would've been a great asset to have if he had a good attitude.   Maybe he'd be sitting with 70 cap's and our midfield general now, if he hadn't inherited male pattern baldness. It's his grandad on his mam's side I blame, not his assorted grannies

What was the game where Stan snuck up behind Tony O'Donoghue who was doing an interview and made a stupid face into the camera?

I'm fairly sure TV3 showed this match as did the 5-2 vs Cyprus and the Macedonia game last minute equaliser blame them ****s.

Bitored wrote: 1874eire wrote: Worst thing was the fact that we were in a really poor group and if we had our sh!t together we probably would have qualified automatically as the top two went through at that time. We didn't have a bad group of players. I don't know if you can say that for sure. The Czechs and Germans were two decent sides then, the Czechs actually topped the group. No doubt we should have put up a challenge for second. We had a squad far superior to the one that went to Poland/Ukraine.

Nib wrote: What was the game where Stan snuck up behind Tony O'Donoghue who was doing an interview and made a stupid face into the camera? Dunphy flipped out big time.

That was Germany away he came up behind Ray Houghton I thought

Dark,Dark times of Irish Football. Poor ol Booby Robson. Talk about being thrown under a bus.

deise316 wrote: OnTheOneRoad wrote: I think now with the passage of time Stan will once again be remembered fondly for the player he was, now that the wounds from his disastrous campaign have subsided. Personally i'd be happy if at any mention of Stan in an Irish football context his managerial stint was never again acknowledged. A decent man and a figure the Irish football public were fond of thrown in completely out of his depth, but i don't begrudge him for taking the job on. I disagree with that to be honest. I dunno is that because I was at the games in Cyprus & San Marino, but any time I see or hear mention of Stan, the first thing I think of is that disastrous campaign rather than the stellar Irish career as a player.  There is a number of things about the era & games under Stan that are kind of taken as fact these days, but don't really tally with my own memory of things. The Swedes in that friendly were as disinterested a bunch of lads who ever showed up for a September friendly, I remember remarking to someone that it was the first time I had ever seen a team go through 90 minutes without making a single tackle. We did play well considering, but even at the time, I thought it had all the hallmarks of a kind of faulty result that would have little bearing on reality.  The Germany game, they scored via a deflected shot, but all our attacking efforts culminated in Jens Lehman catching a single cross (or it might have been a corner) in 90 minutes. It wasn't too bad of a performance considering, but wasn't anything great either. Cyprus ended the Irish careers of Kenny, Andy O'Brien & Morrisson, in my opinion, somewhat unfairly. Not saying any of the 3 would have had anything substantial to offer in later years, but O'Brien & Morrisson were probably worthy of squad places at the very least in later games, as ever, we weren't laden down with that much talent.  Always thought the San Marino game was nearly the worse of the 2 in a way, the Cypriots were decent at home around that era, beat Wales there as well if memory serves me right, though Wales weren't up to much then either. I kind of see where the lads who half hoped SM would win were coming from, but I wouldn't have been one of them. At that time, we still had a lot to play for, and the optimist in me thought we might turn it around, though even at the time it looked unlikely due to the generally dire performances.  By the time Cyprus home game came around, there were many many others with the same opinion as the lads, and I include meself in that, I was nearly half sorry Finnan got (an excellent finish) the equaliser, though the few thousand staying on 15/20 minutes after the game calling for JD's head was what did for Stan, if it was going to be one or the other , JD was making sure it wasn't going to be him.

Were you going on trips when he played, Deise? Genuine question.

I did Cyprus the year before when we pretty much played just as poorly under Kerr but got out with a 1-0 thanks to a Shay peno save and a Stephen Elliot goal so didn't go back the following year. Didn't do San Marino that campaign, did Germany and the Slovakia / Czech double header so despite only picking up a point the performances weren't that bad. The campaign was a bizarre one, I thought from the off that Staunton was a disastrous appointment, he never struck me as management material but my first memories of him when he's mentioned these days are of his playing career, the goal direct from the corner v the north, the hat to keep the sun off the big pasty head on him in US 94, the draw v Germany on his 100th cap, that sort of thing. I've just tried to forget he ever managed us! Shameful that 7 of the board who made that decision are still in situ tbh.