The Football Thread

[CorkonianHunger]

One of the best weeks of Irish football for me. Probably the best results I've seen in my lifetime. Last one I can remember is beating Italy in the Euros, but even then this tops it I think.

[Pagan Saviour]

Yeah definitely the best couple of results in my lifetime

Few firsts here

Beating a top 5 team at home by more than a goal.

Must be going all the way back to Malta away for our last 3-2 away having been 2-1 down. Hungary more formidable opponents too.

And an away Hat-trick? Must be a first.


Hope the draw is kind to us now. Getting greedy, before a ball was kicked all I wanted was for them to be involved going into the last game

[Cailleach]

With 15 minutes left i thought of the song Miracle by Jon Bon Jovi..
The most dramatic come back from an Irish team i have ever seen. Thank goodness Ferguson was injured. I have not seen Irish soccer fans celebrate like  that in a long time
 The 16th of November should be  known as Troy Parrot day from now on.

[Pat Twisted Wrath]

A 2pm kick off with 2 young kids... 

I had to watch the 2nd half in a playground - me and about 4 other dad's just pacing around looking at the phone, occasional glance up and a shake of the head.  Some celebration down by the swings at full time 

[Ollkiller]

Yeah definitely the best couple of results in my lifetime

Showing my age here but I remember as an 8 year old watching Gary MacKay score against Bulgaria to put us through to Euro 88.
Ray putting the ball in the English net is by far the best highlight as it kickstarted years of bliss watching the ireland team.
But by far and away the best performance by an Irish team was the game against Russia in Euro 88. We battered them and should have won it. And that Russia team were savage.

[Mower Liberation Front]

Kevin Doyle appears to have upset a large part of the Liverpool fanbase. 

[Thorn]

In front of Didi Hamman too

[Pagan Saviour]

Ah I'd say Didi likes a spot of banter

[Thorn]

Oul Bill would have had quite a chuckle to be sure

[Mooncat]

Biggest result for me (that I can remember) was Ireland beating Italy at World Cup 94. I can remember the stunned jubilation around that one well.

Also was pure joy that time Northern Ireland beat Spain in a qualifier with Healy scoring a hattrick. Unfortunately that one didn't lead anywhere, but in that moment it looked like it could. I always remember that lobbed winner towards the end and the NI commentators being so stunned all they could do was laugh.

[Pagan Saviour]

Poland Wales Slovakia or Czechia, who do we want???

[The Butcher]

Looking at matches since 2022 you get a win rate of ->

Wales   35.7% (they had a very poor 2022 - if you exclude it they go up to 43%)
Poland   45.5%
Slovakia 47.6%
Czechia   51.6%

[Ollkiller]

Poland Wales Slovakia or Czechia, who do we want???

Wales all day long.

[The Butcher]

What I've liked about us in the past few games is the slight change in how we play - we are mixing it up more - yes still some of the dreaded playing from the back is going on but we are also going route 1 - long ball to try make it a 50/50 run on a counter. What I hated with the Trap/Kenny era was being so rigid to one style and teams could tactically rip us apart knowing what we were going to do. Now at least we can compete with average enough players but Troy obviously has to be mentioned as one to literally drag us to where we are now. As Richard Dunne said, if we qualify that's icing on the cake, least we have playoffs to look forward to. I think Poland are the ones to get from that pot and perhaps Wales next.

[Pagan Saviour]

Don't want to derail but I've a lot of time for Trap. The football was indeed ugly but he got us back being competitive again. His first campaign was excellent. Beat the shit teams, draw with the big boys, no defeats. It's just a shame when we qualified for the Euros in 2012 that A we got a dreadful group with two of the eventual finalists and B He went with the same tactics. He should've probably gone then having taken us as far as he could have but of course the FAI saw the dollar signs and we had another feckin contract in place.