The long road to the Finals
1971-1986

An outline history of Ireland in international football

Part 4 So near and yet so far

Under Liam Tuohy, Ireland's results began to improve and Ireland recorded their first victory in five years when they beat Iran in the Brazilian Independence Cup tournament. Results also improved in the 1974 World Cup qualifying campaign in which Ireland beat the French in Dublin but were unable to stop the USSR from finishing first.

In 1972 also an Irish side qualified for the UEFA Youths Championships in Spain after the Welsh team refused to travel over to Ireland for a qualifying match.

In 1973 Johnny Giles took over from Liam Tuohy and became Ireland's first player-manager.

Ireland performed even better in the 1976 European Championship qualifiers but failed to qualify from their group after once again losing out to the USSR. It had started well for the Irish as they beat the Soviets 3-0 thanks to a hat-trick by Don Givens but a defeat in the return leg in Kiev followed by another defeat this time at the hands of Switzerland put paid to any chances of qualifying. In Ireland's final match Don Givens again put in a great performance, this time scoring four goals against the Turks to equal Paddy Moore's record set back in 1934.

Missing out on the 1978 World Cup was a huge blow for the Irish team. They had performed creditably against France in Paris, going down to a 2-0 defeat, and then beat them in the return match at Lansdowne Road. It meant Ireland had a good chance of qualifying ahead of their two games with Bulgaria. Unfortunately, though, the Irish missed out thanks to a controversial defeat in Sofia when even the French manager agreed it would have been impossible for Ireland to get any sort of result with that referee. A fight broke out between the two sides late on in the match as Ireland went down 2-1. In the final match Ireland could only manage a draw at home to the Bulgarians and the French went through to the finals.

Johnny Giles' reign as manager ended after the 1980 European qualifiers when bad health forced him out of the job. During the qualifiers the Republic of Ireland took on Northern Ireland in a historic first-ever meeting between the two sides. An eventful 0-0 draw at Dalymount Park was marred by rioting in Dublin on the day of the match. In the return leg the Republic were beaten by a goal to nil which along with other mixed results ensured Ireland would not be going to the finals. To end the decade another piece of history was made: Chris Houghton became the first black player to represent Ireland when he played against the United States in a friendly.

When the draw for the 1982 World Cup Qualifiers was made one group stood out in particular. It contained a strong Belgium side, an emerging French side containing Michel Platini, a Dutch side that was in the process of rebuilding, Cyprus who were the lightweights of the group and finally Ireland under a new manager, Eoin Hand.

Ireland had their stars like Liam Brady who had recently signed for Juventus and Frank Stapleton of Arsenal, but even the most optimistic of Irish supporters gave the team little chance of making it to the finals.

Things got off to a good start with a 3-2 win in Cyprus before a superb performance at home gave Ireland victory over the Dutch thanks to goals by Gerry Daly and Mark Lawrenson. Going into their final game the Irish had been beaten just twice, away to Belgium and France, before the French came to Lansdowne. In a brilliant game a packed Lansdowne saw Ireland defeat the French but just miss out on qualification to the finals in Spain. It was the closest Ireland had ever come to qualifying and with a bit more luck they could have made it.

After missing out on the finals, Ireland went on a tour of South and Central America without a lot of the Irish stars. Things started all right for the team with a narrow 1-0 defeat to Chile in Santiago before they suffered their record defeat of modern times, 7-0, at the hands of Brazil. In their final match they again lost, this time 2-1 to Trinidad and Tobago in Port of Spain.

By the time the European Championship qualifiers rolled around Ireland found themselves second to Spain and Holland in the group and again Ireland missed out on the finals. It was yet another disappointment for Ireland who arguably had one of their best sides back then. Mark Lawrenson and Ronnie Whelan were starring for Liverpool, Brady was still in Italy, now with Inter Milan, while Houghton, Stapleton, Brady and Grealish were all playing for top English sides.

The 1986 World Cup qualifying campaign was a further blow to Irish football. The results were getting steadily worse since Eoin Hand took over in 1980 although this wasn't just down to him. The campaign started well enough with a great victory over the Soviet Union at Lansdowne. However the win was followed by successive defeats to Norway and Denmark which virtually ruled out any chance of qualification. Another defeat, this time in Moscow, confirmed that before Ireland were heavily beaten at home to Denmark who were on their way to the finals in Mexico in the last game of the campaign and for Ireland manager Eoin Hand.

When the FAI announced his replacement they went against tradition in appointing someone from outside Ireland. When the press conference was held their was mixed reaction to the new manager, his managerial career had started well enough with Newcastle United before relegation meant he got the sack. His name was Jack Charlton.

Other chapters of the history:
From the Beginning
Free State to "Emergency"
Struggling to find a role
The Charlton years

Check Ireland's international record:
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