Three great Lansdowne days

Shamrock Rovers All Ireland XI 3, Brazil 4. 3rd July 1973 (Friendly): Smack in the middle of the close season, Johnny Giles training alone on holiday in Wexford, eight players from the north and eight from the south and the world champion Brazilians refusing any fee for the game, all the proceeds being divided between three charities. Times have changed.

Or have they? Officials from both sides of the Border campaigned to have the game stopped. Hence the All-Ireland side played in the hoops and nomenclature of Shamrock Rovers. There was a joint captaincy of the side. Giles went on to become manager of Ireland. Derek Dougan never played for the North again. And Ireland lost.

There were 37,000 there and they gave a prolonged, standing ovation to both sides at the end of a game which was as open and flowing as the scoreline suggests. The only absentees form the great Brazilian line-up of that era were Pele, Gerson and Tostao (who had been involved in a car accident earlier that year). Mick Martin, Dougan and Terry Conroy scored for the Irish, who were managed by Liam Tuohy. Proceeds from the game, including TV rights, were divided between Unicef, the Irish Cancer Society and Stewart's Hospital.

Shamrock Rovers All Ireland XI : Jennings (Spurs), Craig (Newcastle), Mulligan (Crystal Palace), Hunter (Ipswich), Carroll (Birmingham), O'Neill (Nottm Forest), Giles (Leeds), Martin (Manchester Utd), Conroy (Stoke), Dougan (Wolves), Givens (QPR). Subs: O'Kane (Nottm Forest) for Carroll (66 mins), Hamilton (Ipswich Town) for Givens (66 mins), Dennehy (Nottm Forest) for Conroy (88 mins).

Brazil: Leao, Luis Pereira, Ze Maria, Clodoaldo, Piazza, Marco Aononio, Paulo Cesar Lima, Rivelino, Jairzinho, Valdomiro, Dirceu.

Republic of Ireland 3, France 2 14th October, 1981 (WCQ)

The biggest crowd, 54,000, ever shoehorned into Lansdowne Road for a soccer game. "My best memory of Lansdowne," says Eoin Hand, who managed Ireland that day. "It left me forever thinking about the 'what ifs'."

What if? Ireland had hopes for a first World Cup finals appearance hewn from an astonishingly tough group which contained France, Holland and Belgium. In March that year Hand's team had been robbed of a point in Brussels when Frank Stapleton scored a perfect goal which was disallowed when the Portuguese referee backed into a Belgian and then (in the absence of any other explanation) given a free out for a free on the Belgian.

"It was a must win at Lansdowne. If we won we were going four points clear and they had two to play. One against Holland and one against Cyprus, both in Paris. It was two points for a win at the time. We had been robbed in Belgium and this was the last chance.

"All the way down from the airport the atmosphere was brilliant. The game just picked up from that. It was a great French team. We went ahead early when they scored an own goal."

By half-time the Irish were 3-1 ahead with goals by Stapleton and Robinson added to Mahut's own goal. In the 82nd minute Platini pulled one back. The closing minutes were unbearably tense.

"Seamus McDonagh made a great save from Didier Six right at the death. He saved it down at the post. We were four points ahead of France and everyone thought the Dutch would get a draw in Paris to put us through. I went to see them in Paris, but the Dutch had started to squabble over money. They were useless. They lost 2-0."

Ireland: McDonagh (Bolton Wanderers), Langan (Birmingham City), O'Leary (Arsenal), Moran (Manchester United), Hughton (Tottenham Hotspur), Whelan (Liverpool), Martin (Newcastle United), Lawrenson (Liverpool), Brady (Juventus), Stapleton (Manchester United), Robinson (Brighton). Subs: Givens (Neuchatel Xamax) for Stapleton (87 mins).

France: Castaneda, Bossis, Mahut, Lopez, Janvion, Girand, Larios, Christophe, Platini, Couriol, Bellone. Subs: Six for Bellone (62 mins), Bracci for Mahut (70 mins).

Republic of Ireland 1 Brazil 0. 23rd May 1987 (Friendly)

For Niall Quinn one day sticks out above all others. An end-of-season friendly played in front of just 17,000 people on a Saturday afternoon in May or, as Quinn refers to it, Brady v Brazil.

Brady had played for Ireland against Brazil five years previously on one of those disastrous skites which the FAI seemed to specialise in setting up. The trip involved a 7-0 hammering, and then a defeat at the hands of a Trinidad & Tobago side. This time Brady rewrote the script.

The game wasn't a classic, but Brady scored with the first real attacking move the Irish had. A moment of pure genius. Taking a little pass in midfield and turning languidly inside two players before slipping a pass to John Aldridge who found John Byrne. The ball came lose, Brady shaped to make a cross. Carlos came off his line. Brady switched feet and slipped a low shot in at the near post.

The poor crowd reflected the general disillusionment among what would become by the following summer in Germany the self-styled "greatest fans in the world". The sadness was that Brady's genius seemed to mark him as unsuitable for Charlton's more pragmatic approach.

Ireland: Bonner (Celtic), Anderson (Newcastle United), McCarthy (Celtic), Moran (Man United), Whelan (Liverpool), O'Brien (Man United), McGrath (Man United), Brady (West Ham United), O'Callaghan (Portsmouth), Byrne (Queen's Park Rangers), Aldridge (Liverpool). Subs: Langan (Oxford United) for Whelan (60 mins), De Mange (Liverpool) for McCarthy (64 mins), Quinn (Arsenal) for O'Brien (80 mins).

Brazil: Carlos, Josimar, Ricardo II, Geraldao, Nelsinho, Silas, Valdo, Douglas, Edu I, Muller, Mirandinha. Subs: Rai for Edu I (65 mins), Romano for Mirandinha (67 mins), Joao Paulo for Muller (74 mins).