Ireland's greatest sporting moments and events

3) Ireland soccer – Italy v Ireland in the Giants Stadium 1994

The 1990 World Cup in Italy had been a dream for Irish soccer fans. Even in defeat Ireland had been champions. From nowhere, Jack Charlton had taken a team of journeymen culled from the ranks of English football and sprinkled with some extravagantly gifted players, imposed a rigid system, and beaten the best in the world. It was too much to expect a repeat. Ireland’s opening game in the 1994 world cup in the U.S.A. was to be a repeat of its last game in 1990; Italy in the Giants stadium, with Ireland bringing a fast-ageing team and an even faster ageing approach to the game, bespoke humiliation. The heat, the skills of the Italians … Ireland were doomed. That is until Ray Houghton, the Scottish born midfielder latched onto a loose ball in front of the Italian goal, hit a looping shot over Gianluca Pagliuca and into the net. Then it became the Paul McGrath show. The Black Pearl of Inchicore wrapped up the most glittering of Italy’s strikers, repeatedly throwing himself between them and the ball. After the game, New York and New Jersey didn’t know what had hit them.

4) Roy Keane in Saipan – 2002

A Corkman was blamed for the first Irish Civil War in 1921. Mick Collins knew he was acting in the best interests of the country, but many disagreed. In 2002, a Corkman sparked the second Irish Civil War, and he, too, argued he was doing it for the most principled of reasons. Roy Keane’s high profile bust-up with Mick McCarthy (Dev?) split the country in two and possibly cost Ireland a second ever quarter-final appearance in a world cup. With lackluster games against Cameroon, Germany and Saudi Arabia, Ireland scraped through to the next round to meet Spain, where they missed chance after chance to kill the game off, then suffered the heartbreak of going home after losing on penalty kicks. Roy Keane, meanwhile, was back home walking his dog, he said with a clear conscience. Vilified by his enemies as a traitor, but deified by his fans as a man who wouldn’t settle for second-best.

5) Padraig Harrington wins first major

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Nster.com