FROM THE ARCHIVES:The Republic of Ireland's historic 1-0 victory over England in 1988 marked the start of a glorious spell for the team. Kevin Myers described the mood and the match in Stuttgart.
– JOE JOYCE
THE EMERGENCY wards of the hospitals of Stuttgart should have been full of Irish soccer fans last night, after Ireland’s coronary-inducing 1-0 victory over England in the first leg of the European championship. No match in living memory has produced such a heart-stopping tension, and it is a testament to the resilience of the Irish that enough fans were alive at the end of this enthrallingly marvellous encounter to be able to swamp this handsome city with a din of happy voices roaring “Alive Alive Oh” at the decibel level of a Concorde take-off.
The Irish manager Jack Charlton spoke for all Irish fans at the press conference after the match when he said that the 84 minutes between Ray Houghton’s opening goal and the final whistle were the longest of his life. On the clock they represented less than an hour and a half; in terms of time experienced, they constituted a full archaeological epoch.
Ireland had prepared for this match with the unusual step of a Mass the night before, at which the Irish physiotherapist Mick Byrne unleashed an unexpectedly melodious version of “Hail Glorious St Patrick” which quite charmed the Germans (and the numerous English) present.
St Patrick looked after his sons well. “We got away with a lot of things that makes you think somebody likes you,” admitted Jack Charlton after the match.
Goalkeeper Patrick Bonner, protected and defended and inspired by his patron saint, will never play a more miraculous game, and the next time Mick Byrne sings “Hail Glorious St Patrick”, it could be to honour him. Towards the end of the second half, when the Irish were on the rack as English attack after English attack thundered against a valiant Irish defence, and Irish hearts were roosting a millimetre behind their owners’ teeth, he pulled off a series of saves of breathtaking brilliance.
The game started with a mannerly audition of the British national anthem and a huge lupine howl of derision for the Irish, and early on it was clear that the Irish intended to harry, worry and subjugate by sheer effort. That was Charlton’s plan. It was no part of his plan to get an early goal, but Ray Houghton’s header looped over Shilton into the England net after John Aldridge had headed a cross.
Six minutes gone and 84 to go, the length of the Pleiocene, but those 84 minutes were marked with sustained vocal support from the Irish following who never lost faith in their team, nor did the players ever lose faith in themselves, even when exhaustion set in and Frank Stapleton and Tony Galvin were substituted.
The English on the other hand, though more skilful than the Irish, and producing some nice touches, never settled to a clear pattern of play, and they certainly lacked the Irish self-confidence. That lack of self-belief leads players to miss open goals.
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