Ireland's greatest World Cup moments, which one still means the most?

Hallgrimsson and Ireland will go again together when the qualification trail for Euro 2028 begins after the Icelander signed a contract extension prior to the Czechia match that runs until the end of Euro 2028. 

While thoughts over the Euros belong to the future, we will look in that other direction at monumental Irish World Cup moments from the vault. Just to stir up some nostalgia to make up for Ireland’s absence at the current competition. 

Dramatic Draw against Germany

Germany is a country that are always in the mix to win the World Cup and current World Cup 2026 odds has them right up there again to go all the way in North America. But in 2002, Ireland produced one of the shock results of the competition in South Korea and Japan. 

Rudi Völler’s German side had crushed Saudi Arabia 8-0 in their opening tie and were expected to make light work of Mick McCarthy’s team. However, the Irish had other ideas and after falling behind to a Miroslav Klose goal in the 19th minute, Gary Breen, Steve Staunton, Gary Kelly et al held firm until the 92nd minute when Robbie Keane grabbed a dramatic equaliser. 

Cue the trademark cartwheel and forward roll celebration. After advancing to the knockout stages in second place behind Germany, Ireland was agonisingly knocked out on penalties by Spain.

Penalty Delight

At Italia 90’, the Irish came out on the right side of a penalty shootout in the Round of 16 when they knocked out Romania. No goals were scored in 120 minutes, and it only took one penalty miss from Daniel Timofte to give Ireland a 5-4 win after Kevin Sheedy, Ray Houghton, Andy Townsend, Tony Cascarino, and David O’Leary all scored their spot kicks. However, the magical run was ended by host nation, Italy, in Rome in a narrow 0-1 defeat.

McGrath’s Italy Masterclass

32 years on since the World Cup was last held in the United States, many Ireland fans will still fondly remember the defensive clinic that Paul McGrath put on to shut out the Italians in 1994 to avenge that defeat in 1990. 

In what goes down as the greatest Irish victory at a World Cup, Ireland triumphed 1-0 against an Italian team that contained the likes of Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, and Roberto Baggio. An early goal from Ray Houghton was enough to secure the win that enabled Ireland to qualify from the group ahead of Italy in second on the head-to-head record. 

Ironically, that presented Jack Charlton’s men with a trickier tie against Dick Advocaat’s Dutch side that Ireland could not master. However, the win against Italy will forever go down in Irish World Cup legend, driven by McGrath’s performance in nullifying one of the best strikers in the world at the time.

Building Euros Momentum

It has been an agonising wait for another World Cup appearance. The next edition will also be hosted by three nations with Morocco, Spain, and Portugal sharing responsibilities. 2030 will mark nearly 30 years since Ireland last qualified for a World Cup. A strong Euros showing is the first step towards ensuring that wait does not go on any longer so that more memorable moments can be created.