The long road to the Finals
1986-1996

An outline history of Ireland in international football

Part 5 The Charlton years

When Charlton took over few could have predicted the success the Englishman could achieve. Morale was low and although there was the basis of a good side it looked beyond the team to qualify for a major finals. Things started badly when Ireland lost at home to Wales in a friendly followed by a 1-1 draw with Uruguay before Ireland headed off to Iceland for an end of season competition. Wins over the hosts and Czechoslovakia gave Ireland their first ever win in an international competition.

Despite this many of the more established players were upset at Jack Charlton's direct tactics which put an emphasis on closing down the opposition and 'to put them under pressure'.

Charlton was a tough and uncompromising manager and when Ireland went into their European Championship qualifiers they did so without David O'Leary who had gone on holidays instead of going to Iceland. However the opinion of most of the players changed after Ireland's first qualifying game in Brussels when they held the group favorites Belgium to a 2-2 draw. Ireland continued their run of good results with a win and a draw against Scotland before losing to Bulgaria in Sofia. Despite the setback, Ireland continued to improve and achieved a famous victory when they beat Brazil in a friendly at Lansdowne Road which was followed up by a win in Luxembourg and a 2-0 win over the group leaders Bulgaria in their final game.

Despite the win over Bulgaria it looked as though Ireland would once again miss out on qualification. It would take a defeat for the Bulgarians at home in their final game for Ireland to qualify for the finals in Germany. It looked beyond Bulgaria's opponents Scotland to get a result in Sofia but a late goal by Gary MacKay sent Ireland on their way to their first ever finals of a major competition.

Ireland warmed up for the finals with games from the Eastern Block after the FAI were unable to arrange friendlies with any of the major nations. The warm-up went well with four wins out of five but an injury to star player Liam Brady meant Ireland went to the finals as underdogs.

After the European Championships there was a huge increase in interest for the Irish football team which was creating shockwaves across Europe. Drawn in a group containing Spain, Hungary and Northern Ireland the prospects were good for Ireland qualifying for their first World Cup. Things started with a 0-0 draw in Windsor Park before an under strength Irish team were beaten 2-0 in Seville by the Spanish. Another 0-0 draw this time with Hungary in Budapest set the Irish up for the return match with Spain. Before the game Spanish striker Michel said he feared the Irish would provide tough opposition as they had not been beaten at home since Jack Charlton's first game against Wales. The Irish duly obliged and gave the visitors a torrid time with Ray Houghton scoring the all important goal to put Ireland firmly on the qualification trail.

Next up came Malta and Hungary at Lansdowne Road, both of whom were both beaten 2-0, which was followed up by a 3-0 win over Northern Ireland when most of the country took a half-day in order to watch the match, which had to be held at lunchtime because of the lack of floodlights at Lansdowne Road. The win set Ireland up for their final game in Malta in which only a very unlikely set of results would have let Hungary qualify along with Spain instead of Ireland. However with a huge amount of Irish making the trip to Valetta there was only going to be one result as Ireland qualified in second place for their first ever World Cup finals.

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Other chapters of the history:
From the Beginning
Free State to "Emergency"
Struggling to find a role
So near and yet so far

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