Ireland General Discussion thread

redout

At the behest of Xavi here is the Ireland General discussion thread.

Stephen Ireland talk is allowed.

Andy Reid talk is allowed as is Keano (the real one!), Mick, Saipan, the piss ups the lads had at Italia 90 and USA 94, Big Jack, Bill O'Herlihy's crazy hat after beating the Romanians, Dunphys spat with Charlton, Chippy, the Apre lads and Razor Houghtons wonder goal against the Italians. Lets not forget the English, we beat them in Stuttgart and drew in Cagliari and then the hooligans got in a pisser tore up Lansdowne.

Feel free to splurge lads........

Mod note -

This thread is for team talk, Gossip and Rumours pertaining to Ireland. This thread is open for all users to post in. There are no preferences for fans of any team.

Please note the following Rules:

1. NO MATCH DISCUSSIONS
- Match threads will be created for matches/match weeks where required.
- Match discussion will be deleted.

2. Transfers.
- When a major transfer occurs, please post in the specific thread
- We will merge/split discussion on requests
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3. Users who repeatedly ignore these guidelines will receive warnings/bans.

ROCKMAN

Italia 90

Standing on a pool table taking peno's with the white ball and cue (golf style) with the owner of the pub acting as goalie at the other end of the table.



For the life of me cannot remember what inspired us

Mitch Connor

Did you score?

Boggles

Saipan incident - In a packed Pub in Dublin when the Keane interview came on the telly.

I have never heard silence like it from a full public house, everybody, staff included stopped what they were doing.

therecklessone

Boggles wrote: »

Saipan incident - In a packed Pub in Dublin when the Keane interview came on the telly.

I have never heard silence like it from a full public house, everybody, staff included stopped what they were doing.

Used to get that in my local for Father Ted...:p

Xavi6

I was in the Gaeltacht for the Spain game in 2002. Had tears in my eyes when we fluffed the shootout. Absolutely gutted.

Tried to lighten the mood by wearing a Spanish jersey to the ceili that night. Amazingly no one else found it funny.

Mitch Connor

Xavi6 wrote: »

I was in the Gaeltacht for the Spain game in 2002. Had tears in my eyes when we fluffed the shootout. Absolutely gutted.

Tried to lighten the mood by wearing a Spanish jersey to the ceili that night. Amazingly no one else found it funny.

I was studying for my Physics LC exam. Dropped to lower level that weekend and aced it.

Still reckon we could have got to the final if we had got past the shootout vs spain.

stovelid

Nah, fuck it. It's no fun when you can actually discuss it legally in its own thread.

eagle eye

I gotta say as regards 2002, I really, honestly feel that we had a serious shot at winning that tournament if Roy Keane had of still been with us.
I don't think there was any outstanding team in that World Cup. Its all history now, but for me at the time, it was disastrous. We had Robbie Keane at his very best. Damien Duff was also at his peak. Kenny Cunningham was another great player at the time. And of course Shay Given in goal. And a lot of good players besides them.

riflehunter77

Xavi6 wrote: »

I was in the Gaeltacht for the Spain game in 2002. Had tears in my eyes when we fluffed the shootout. Absolutely gutted.

Tried to lighten the mood by wearing a Spanish jersey to the ceili that night. Amazingly no one else found it funny.

Was in Fremantle Perth for the game in a irish pub, jet lag and sh!t load of beer the game was a bit of a blur

JMB88

I know it's a longshot at the moment ... but if we make it to SA 2010, will many of you guys consider making the journey over?. I'd think I'd definitly make the trip, I want to see Ireland play in at least one World Cup in my lifetime. One of my friends was at the 2002 World Cup and he said it's something every serious Ireland fan must see for themselves.

Craft25

For irelands defensive midfield berth in:

Lads why oh why has nobody ever looked at James O'Connor at Sheffield wednesday.. 28years old.. at his peak defensive midfielder

played for Stoke, West Brom, Burnley, and now wednesday.. has consistently been a fans favourite for his hard work, getting around the pitch.. got home man of the match when burnley played arsenal last year..

He has consistently gotten his team around the playoffs, and got WBA promoted, he is a super hard worker, he only played one premiership match when WBA got promoted unfortunately

his only weakness is a small enough stature, but gets around and is SUPERfit

seems perfect for the problem area

redout

Xavi6 wrote: »

I was in the Gaeltacht for the Spain game in 2002. Had tears in my eyes when we fluffed the shootout. Absolutely gutted.

Tried to lighten the mood by wearing a Spanish jersey to the ceili that night. Amazingly no one else found it funny.

I loathed the fact I was doing the leaving cert during the world cup in 2002. I specifically remember doing the Economics exam I think it was whilst the Germany game was on and some little transistion year sitting outside the door with one of those portable tv's and the whole room trying to listen in throughout the exam. The invigilator didnt seem to mind. The best part was everyone going mental when Robbie Keane scored in stoppage time. Anyone else have a leaving cert exam like that !

Craft25

Xavi6 wrote: »

I was in the Gaeltacht for the Spain game in 2002. Had tears in my eyes when we fluffed the shootout. Absolutely gutted.

Tried to lighten the mood by wearing a Spanish jersey to the ceili that night. Amazingly no one else found it funny.

Aaargh boo... I met the hottest german chick ever on the plane into ireland, arranged to meet her for a date the night of that match.. as you can guess i wasn't in good spirits.. totally blew it being in such a downer.. still makes me feel sick today

Vokes

Was in in a pub at 8 in the morn in Chicago (J1) for the Spain 2002 game. Amazing atmosphere for that time of the day. Disaapointing end tho.

monkey9

What was the question???

anladmór

good thread.

does anyone just wish ireland would qualify for a european championship so that we could actually go to the feckin matches?

guarenteed we get to south africa, would be typical, we miss out on germany, france, austria/switzerland/sweden/england/belgium netherlands but qualify for japan/korea/usa :mad: ahhhh

i was in munich for the ireland germany game.:D KEANO.

whatawaster

We definitely could have at least got to the 02 final (would have been south korea and a terrible Germany in the semi's), even without Keane. Duff was absolutely brilliant for us all through those qualifiers and for me he was as good as anyone at that tournament.
We also played some brilliant football during the tournament, i particularly remember the second half against Cameroon we were great after going behind.

I also feel McCarthy doesn't get half the credit he deserves for the job he did. He got us to two playoffs (remember that bloody belgian goal at the death, the ball had gone out of play and the linesman missed it!) and a finals.

I've never forgiven Ian Harte for that penalty miss

anladmór

mccarthy had us playing some nice football, we were nominated for most exciting team in 2002 world cup. i remember all the quick counter attacks with one touch passing(watch the break on youtube where robbie keane nuts puyol)

Craft25

We dominated the germans IMO, and they strolled to the final.. watched that in a student flat in germany & they all agreed we were stronger!! screams of me when we scored

Bounty Hunter

ah I remember that Spain game, was working in a pub myself for it and point blank refused to do any work once it went into the 2nd half of extra time, just flipped over a crate and sat right infront of the big screen. I was gutted and as someone already said was shocked at how far we could have gotten considering the teams that we could have drawn Korea, Paraguay, USA, Germany (who we'd already drawn with) to get to the final.

atm id love, seriously love to see this team.

.........................Given........................

Finnan.......Dunne.......O'Shea......Kilbane (would like a new LB)

McGeady...S.Ireland.....S.Reid......D.Duff

...............R.Keane.....K.Doyle
Il Trap

players who id like to see get into the squad in the future, not first XI atm instead of players like Miller, Gibson, E.Nolan etc:

Rory Delap
Owen Garvan
John Joe O'Toole
A.Reid
Sean Scannell
James McCarthy

anladmór

I think Keith Fahey will get in the squad if trap is open minded enough. he's just so good to watch....so creative, currently he's only breaking into birmingham squad but he's been very influential everytime he's come on.

whatawaster

---

Given

---

Kelly

---

Dunne

---

O'Shea

---

Kilbane

---

S. Reid

---

S. Ireland

---

McGeady

---

Duff

---

Keane

---

---

Doyle

---

Hunt coming on for Duff after 60 minutes.

Bounty Hunter

whatawaster wrote: »

---

Given

---

Kelly

---

Dunne

---

O'Shea

---

Kilbane

---

S. Reid

---

S. Ireland

---

McGeady

---

A. Reid

---

---

Keane

---

---

Doyle

---

Hunt coming on for Andy Reid after 60 minutes.

Really, Duff doesen't even get to come off the bench for you?

stovelid

My first Ireland game was actually Jack Charlton's first. Wales, I think. Think I was on the North Terrace, and my main memory is that we got beaten and Neville Southall broke his leg IIRC. . Have went to loads of the games over the years, but never went to any of the tournaments which I kinda regret now.

Even though the bandwagon stuff was awful, such as the treatment of Dunphy and the politicians /celebs making hay, the summer of Italia 90 was a great time in Dublin. Like everyone else, it's was basically a barstool history: Slatterys for the Dutch and English games really stands out. Mental times, and great fun.

USA 94 was probably even worse than 2002, as the anti-climax was horrible after the expectation of 1990, and of course the Italian game.

In fairness, I wasn't as pushed about 2002, compared to the other tournaments. I was still (and would be) happy about Ireland doing well and still attend most of the games, but by that time, I had begun prioritizing club football over international, and was more and more annoyed about the nationalistic hoopla and hay-making (and suspension of critical opinion) that erupted around our appearances in tournaments.

I'm not so sure about winning the thing with Roy in 2002, but we would have taken the Spainish and Koreans. Roy would definitely have marshalled the team better during the penos, and possibly would even have refused to let players like Harte take penos who were obviously too nervous to take them.

joe123

Any word on John-Joe O'toole? Everytime I hear watford have scored he seems to have something to do with it! A good prospect no doubt. Hope he doesnt go the way of Richie Partridge though.

roryc

All this debate over Gibson/Whelan/Andrews... really pisses me off that we could have a midfield like this...

McGeady...S.Ireland.....A.Reid/S.Reid......D.Duff


ffs Ireland swallow your f***king pride... and somebody buy Trap tickets to a Sunderland game so he can watch Reid. He had a smashing game at the weekend against stoke, got an assist and was MOTM imo

whatawaster

roryc wrote: »

All this debate over Gibson/Whelan/Andrews... really pisses me off that we could have a midfield like this...

McGeady...S.Ireland.....A.Reid/S.Reid......D.Duff


ffs Ireland swallow your f***king pride... and somebody buy Trap tickets to a Sunderland game so he can watch Reid. He had a smashing game at the weekend against stoke, got an assist and was MOTM imo

I think Ireland and A Reid is too attacking, not just for Trapp, but for me or anyone. But S Reid and Ireland would be a phenomenal partnership.

Tom65

I think I may be back luck for Ireland when it comes to tournaments. I'm too young to remember Italia '90, I barely remember USA '94. I started going to games just after Mick McCarthy took over, so I saw us miss out on the '98 World Cup and 2000 European Championship. Stopped for the 2002 qualifiers. Started again when Stan took over.

Bad news is, I've gone to all Trap's (home) matches so far.


Still though, I think if Ireland made it to SA and I had the means, I would definitely go. I'll be 22, and by the time Ireland next qualify I could be too tied down to be able to go. Once in a lifetime chance and all that.
I think if we can sort out our midfield, we've a great chance of making it. I'm curious to see how Andrews gets on tomorrow because Whelan/Gibson just wasn't working.

One thing I will say is that I'm not too optimistic about the near future. By the time Euro 2012 rolls around Keane will be 32, Duff 33, Finnan 36, Dunne 33, and Kilbane 36. And that is just in the space of time between the current tournament and the next. I don't see any players who can replace them that are nearly as good - though I'm open to correction.

ShooterSF

Mitch Connor wrote: »

I was studying for my Physics LC exam. Dropped to lower level that weekend and aced it.

Still reckon we could have got to the final if we had got past the shootout vs spain.

Studying for the same exam. Was my 18th birthday too. Sitting in a pub drinking coke. Fupin LC.

ctrl-alt-delete

roryc wrote: »

and somebody buy Trap tickets to a Sunderland game so he can watch Reid. He had a smashing game at the weekend against stoke, got an assist and was MOTM imo

He didn't have a smashing game at all to be honest, it took him all the way until that assist you mention to get a decent cross in, most times he couldnt even get it past the defenders.

I would like to see him in an Ireland team.

I also think we need to plan without S. reid, he is never going to have a decent run in the team. He is the most injury prone player i have ever known, i've been waiting years for him to have a decent run in the Blackburn team, never mind Ireland.

anladmór

the size of the feckin germans:eek:

both teams dont look very mobile or agile.

Pighead

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

He didn't have a smashing game at all to be honest, it took him all the way until that assist you mention to get a decent cross in, most times he couldnt even get it past the defenders.

The fact that he got a standing ovation from the crowd when he was substituted with 10 mins to go suggest to me he must have done alright. And according to this soccernet report he created four clear cut chances which is impressive by any stretch of the imagination.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=243600&&cc=5739

shane86

ShooterSF wrote: »

Studying for the same exam. Was my 18th birthday too. Sitting in a pub drinking coke. Fupin LC.

Pfft, I was pissed the weekend before mine in 04. I laugh in the general direction of the 70,000 unemployed college graduates as I take off for Oz with close on 8 grand in the kitty :pac: Mind you I did stay off the drink two week previous to that as a sort of personal challenge.

We had a junior cert exam during the Germany match in 2002, we headed for the canteen* about maybe 5 minutes before the goal. The place exploded

*: I say canteen but it was known as the Ref, which is short for refectory, whih is what our school referred to the canteen as.

I am approaching 5 years having left school, and I have never anywhere else come across the word "refectory" to describe a canteen.

anladmór

i miss school

eirebhoy

We more than matched Germany tonight. Looking promising with James McCarthy to come in. As usual though we were a bit dodgy off the ball.

newballsplease

I see our friends Cyprus lost their friendly tonight against Serbia. Cyprus 0-2 Serbia

anladmór

newballsplease wrote: »

I see our friends Cyprus lost their friendly tonight against Serbia. Cyprus 0-2 Serbia

Delija were art thou?

newballsplease

anladmór wrote: »

Delija were art thou?

emmm... what now?

anladmór

ah newballs, you wouldn't understand.

p.s your name is legend.

Bounty Hunter

anladmór wrote: »

Delija were art thou?

he has been mia for a while unfortunatley, bet he is happy tonight though. But I expected them to beat Cyprus tbh

Anladamor who were you on here before, cos your new yet o so familar and know all the old faces.

ctrl-alt-delete

Pighead wrote: »

The fact that he got a standing ovation from the crowd when he was substituted with 10 mins to go suggest to me he must have done alright. And according to this soccernet report he created four clear cut chances which is impressive by any stretch of the imagination.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=243600&&cc=5739

I was at the match, and 9 times out of ten the Sunderland fans give out standing ovations, especially on this occassion seems as though Murphy(whom they didn't particularily want on) was coming on!

I've seen him have much better games for Sunderland, and his performnce was nowhere near a MOM performance,

In fact it was one of the worst games of football i've ever seen, nobody stood out at all.

dogpile

Is there an automatic spot for best runner up?

8 team playoffs, 9 groups?? we currently sit best 2nd! should be the goal to go for

enfant terrible

dogpile wrote: »

Is there an automatic spot for best runner up?

8 team playoffs, 9 groups?? we currently sit best 2nd! should be the goal to go for

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_(UEFA)#cite_note-2

So one team finishing second will not be in the playoff's if i'm reading that right

SantryRed

No, worst runner up doesn't get a play off spot.

IRISHSPORTSGUY

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

He didn't have a smashing game at all to be honest, it took him all the way until that assist you mention to get a decent cross in, most times he couldnt even get it past the defenders.

I would like to see him in an Ireland team.

I also think we need to plan without S. reid, he is never going to have a decent run in the team. He is the most injury prone player i have ever known, i've been waiting years for him to have a decent run in the Blackburn team, never mind Ireland.

That's not true at all to be honest. He put in 4 or five very good crosses and could have gone home with a lot of assists if S'lands finishing had been sharper - one that sticks out most in my mind is his cross for Malbranque which was handled on the line by the Stoke player Danny Pugh (which the ref ignored :rolleyes:). He was the official MOTM.

I was at the Stadium of Light myself.

SantryRed

Is this the whole Andy Reid thing again?

He can't PLAY IN TRAP'S SYSTEM UNLESS YOU DROP KEANE!!!

Jesus Christ.

IRISHSPORTSGUY

SantryRed wrote: »

Is this the whole Andy Reid thing again?

He can't PLAY IN TRAP'S SYSTEM UNLESS YOU DROP KEANE!!!

Jesus Christ.

I must say that I think Trapatonni's 'system' is quite idiotic. Lots of teams have a creative cental midfielder and a defensive central midfielder.

SantryRed

Ok. It's idiotic. Whatever.

I don't get some football fans. I really don't.

Gary ITR

IRISHSPORTSGUY wrote: »

I must say that I think Trapatonni's 'system' is quite idiotic. Lots of teams have a creative cental midfielder and a defensive central midfielder.

Idiotic?

10 from 12. Reid isn't a good player. Every 3rd or 4th game he has a good one and he can't last 90 mins. Reid is not a saviour

Headshot

K-Jet wrote: »

Idiotic?

10 from 12. Reid isn't a good player. Every 3rd or 4th game he has a good one and he can't last 90 mins. Reid is not a saviour

S.Ireland could be the saviour

best young player in the PL this season.