Republic of Ireland’s away days woes

Never mind the history the management team and top scorer have with the place, Scotland is where it all began for Ireland's great "haven't beat a decent team on the road," stat, for it was here in Glasgow, 27 years ago, that Mark Lawrenson scored the goal that gave the team its last win away against what might loosely be considered "quality" opposition.

Since Fifa started their world ranking list in 1992, the run has been easier to define with no Republic of Ireland team beating a side ranked higher than it away. There have been some heroic failures as well as very plucky points but perhaps the closest there has been to a big win was in September 1997 when two goals from Tony Cascarino earned all three points in Vilnius. That might sound underwhelming but had Ireland not won, Lithuania would have finished second to Romania in the group and gone forward to the play-offs.

Ultimately, that mattered little, of course. Ireland went out to Belgium who, needless to say, they couldn’t beat in Brussels.

Here is a very, very small selection of other relevant games from down the years. . . . Poland 3 Republic of Ireland 3 (Poznan, October 1991) This is an early example of a big game that Ireland should have won. The visitors were 3-1 up and closing in on victory when they completely lost their grip on things. The Poles got their equaliser thanks to a mix-up between Packie Bonner and Kevin Moran. Spain 0 Republic of Ireland 0 (Seville, November 1992) This one falls more into the category of one we might have nicked with a strong Spanish side generally held well by an Irish side in which a young Roy Keane was making a big impression. The visitors would surely have taken the draw before the match but after John Aldridge had a good goal disallowed for offside, it didn't seem quite so satisfactory. Netherlands 2 Republic of Ireland 2 (Amsterdam, September 2000) Getting any sort of result looked a tall enough order but after Robbie Keane and Jason McAteer had given the visitors a 2-0 lead, the travelling supporters dared to dream. Sadly, it wasn't to be. The Dutch clambered their way back to claim a draw. Happily we got them in the return match. France 1 Republic of Ireland 1 (Paris October 2009) The team played so well in the World Cup play-off there have been suggestions they defied Giovanni Trapattoni's orders and in any other circumstances this would have counted as a win for the Irish were 0-1 up at the end of 90 minutes thanks to a Robbie Keane goal. They were trailing from the first leg, though, and so it went to extra-time and we all know how that went, don't we. Sweden 0 Republic of Ireland 0 (Stockholm, March 2013) Ireland played well again, as well as they had in a couple of years on the road, making a rather peripheral figure of their star striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. EMMET MALONE