FROM THE ARCHIVE:AN IMPRESSIVE exercise in skill and application ended in varying degrees of pain and pride for Limerick United at Lansdowne Road last evening when they were brought down by two goals in the last 20 minutes of their European Cup first leg game by the Spanish champions, Real Madrid.

There was justifiable pride in the manner in which Limerick, refusing to trade on anything other than skill, outplayed the redoubtable Spaniards for more than an hour. Sadly, however, the carnival atmosphere was eroded when the Irishmen, paying a cruel price for their early exuberance, saw Real Madrid strike twice at a stage of the game when tiring limbs were beginning to leave huge gaps in the defence.

It was, essentially, the product of inexperience for with the benefit of hindsight, Limerick might more profitably have slowed the tempo in the early stages when their swash-buckling performance extracted the admiration of a disappointing crowd of no more than 7,000.

Yet. it might still have worked out for them but for two highly controversial decisions by the Danish referee, Ole Amudsen, whose performance scarcely endeared him to the Limerick fans.

The teams were still deadlocked and Real Madrid were coming under increased pressure when Amudsen brought the ire of all Limerick down on himself by disallowing Johnny Matthews goal for offside in the 25th minute.

It was, at best, a hairline decision as Matthews scampered into the open space to slide home a cross from Johnny Walsh but the roars of acclamation died in the throats of the home supporters when the referee, acting on the advice of his linesman, disallowed the goal.

Then, when Limerick had finally split the impressive Spanish cover to take the lead in the 52nd minute, the Dane turned the whole occasion sour for them by awarding a hotly-disputed penalty to the Spaniards in the 70th minute.

Pineda, given a clear run for goal by an immaculately timed through pass from Hernandez, attempted to take the ball around Kevin Fitzpatrick and then crashed to the turf after the goalkeeper had made contact with him.

Depending on one’s allegiance, it was possible to canvas widely different views on the incident but the referee immediately pointed to the spot. Even as Limerick protested their innocence, Juanito extracted the maximum price with a perfectly placed shot which left Fitzpatrick totally stranded.

“That was no penalty,” said Fitzpatrick afterwards . “I attempted to force him to go wide but at all times I played the ball. I have seen a lot more serious incidents go unpunished in the penalty area.”

Matthews was equally convinced that he had been hard done by in the decision to disallow the goal. “There were two Spaniards trying to hold me as I raced onto the ball and they, no less than I, can only have been surprised by the decision to disallow the score.”

So Limerick now travel to Madrid with a task which is all but impossible but Eoin Hand caught the mood of the occasion when he described it as a heart-warming game which reflected credit on the standard of Irish football.

“We tired undeniably in the last half hour, but nobody could deny the quality of our football,” he said. “More than that we fulfilled our promise of attacking the Spaniards and had the breaks gone with us, we would now be celebrating.”

Real Madrid had travelled in the expectation of an early Irish flourish but even they, one suspected, were taken aback by the pace and skill of the blue shirted Irishmen. On at least four occasions in the opening half, they were scrambling desperately to hold their line intact and while the tempo dropped approaching half time, they could justifiably claim to have outplayed the visitors in that period.

As if recoiling from their earlier audacity, the Irishmen lived dangerously on a couple of occasions nearing the interval when, for the first time in the game, the Spanish midfielders, Angel, Hernandes and Stielike began to make inroads in the Irish defence.

Fitzpatrick, summoned for heroics at a stage of his career when he might have expected to slip into retirement, moved nimbly to deny Stielike and then Brendan Storan made a priceless interception when Laurie Cunningham’s cross, struck at speed, invited the final touch from Pineda.

The half-time respite offered Limerick the opportunity of soothing jagged nerves and the precocious Spaniards had already been pushed into retreat when Limerick enacted their own particular version of European triumph with the goal which set the whole tindery scene alight in the 52nd minute.

Johnny Walsh, conceding nothing in this extravagant setting, arched a free-kick into the Spanish penalty area; Gerry Duggan headed it on and before the visitors quite realised the threat, Des Kennedy had embarked on the run which took him behind the last defender and left him with the relatively simple chance of scoring from six yards. It was no more than just reward for Kennedy whose aerial power had unnerved the Spaniards from the start and created at least one gilt-edged chance, wantonly wasted by Gary Hulmes in the first half.

With Kennedy’s goal, Limerick appeared to reach the summit of their ambition, however , and while Isidro rescued the Spaniards with a goal-line clearance as Matthews converged on Walsh’s cross in the 57th minute, the screws were already beginning to turn on the Irish men when the referee precipitated their collapse with the debatable penalty award in the 70th minute.

It was a massive psychological blow from which they never recovered and Real Madrid, at last making their professionalism tell, had established firm control in midfield when another measured through pass, this time from Juanito, gave Pineda the type of opening forwards dream of, in the 85th minute.

Fitzpatrick, to his credit, managed to block the first shot, regrettably, there was to be no reprieve when the ball ran directly back into the path of Pineda and this time he duly put it in the net.

Ironically, Pineda, who filled such important roles in both of Real’s goals, might never have played but for the 15th minute incident which led to their experienced defender, Benito, leaving the field with a facial injury.

It had been a voyage of some distinction by Limerick and while the tie has now, almost certainly, drifted beyond their reach, men like O’Mahony, Nolan, Hand, Nodwell and, not least, the elegant Walsh, can reflect that they contributed substantially to the plot on a remarkable night for Irish football.

LIMERICK UNITED:Fitzpatrick; Nolan, O'Mahony, Sloran, Nodwell; Duggan, Hand, Walsh; Kennedy, Hulmes, Matthews. Subs: Meaney (64 mins) for Hand: Morris (79 mins) for Duggan.

REAL MADRID: Miguel Angel; Perez Garcia, Benito, Gallego, Camacho; Juan Angel, Garcia Hernandez, Sliclkic; Juanito, Isidro, Cunningham. Subs: Pineda for Benito; Navajas for Perez Garcia.

Referee:Ole Amudsen (Denmark)