The long road to the Finals
1945-1971

An outline history of Ireland in international football

Part 3 Struggling to make a mark

The first side to visit Ireland after the war for an international match was England. It was the time England had visited Dublin since the split between the two associations in Ireland and the match was marked by a reception for the English team by the Taoiseach, Eamon de Valera. The English went on to win the game 1-0 at Dalymount Park, a late goal by Tom Finney. The Irish got revenge three years later when they caused an upset by beating the English at Goodison Park in Liverpool by two goals to nil. It was England's first defeat to a team outside the still so-called "home unions".

Despite the historic success Ireland still found the going tough in the World Cup qualifiers, losing out to the Swedes for a place in the 1950 World Cup. The Irish were given a chance to compete in the Finals in Brazil when FIFA asked the team to participate, but the FAI were forced to decline because of lack of preparation.

The continuing problem of players choosing which Ireland to play for was finally settled after southern born Tom Aherne, Con Martin, Reg Ryan and Dave Walsh played for both Irelands in the World Cup qualifiers. FIFA finally resolved the matter when it ruled that each association could only pick players from its own jurisdiction.

FIFA were also to clear up another matter in 1953, when they ruled that the IFA's Ireland team would now be known as Northern Ireland while the FAI's would be known as the Republic of Ireland, in time for the next World Cup qualifiers.

Again Ireland were to find no luck in the qualifiers, as they were beaten by France to deny them a place in the finals. However, two friendly games Ireland played subsequently took a lot more of the headlines. First the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Charles McQuaid, made a protest to Taoiseach Valera over the hosting of a game between Ireland and Yugoslavia. The Archbishop was unhappy about the staging of a game against a communist country.

Less controversial, if more enjoyable, was the victory over reigning World Champions in the other friendly in November 1956 when the Irish beat the Germans 3-0.

The late 50s were not good years for the international side, as they failed to qualify for the 1958 World Cup, finishing as runners-up in their group again. This time it was even closer as a last minute goal by England in Dalymount Park denied Ireland a victory which would have forced the English into a play-off to see who reached the finals.

The Republic also went out in the first round of the new European Championships despite a 2-0 win over Czechoslovakia at home in the first leg.

The 1960s did not start well for the Irish football team. Drawn in the same group as Scotland and Czechoslovakia for the 1962 World Cup qualifiers, Ireland were beaten in all of their games and suffered a humiliating 7-1 defeat in Prague to end their campaign.

Things improved slightly in the qualifiers for the 1964 European Championships, when Ireland beat both Austria and Iceland but missed out on qualification when they were outclassed by Spain who first beat them in 5-1 in Seville and then won 2-0 in Dalymount Park to ensure they finished in first place in the group. Spain went on to win the European Championship - a small consolation to the Irish team.

The 1966 World Cup qualifying campaign saw Ireland again take on Spain, this time in a play-off between the two sides to see who got to the finals. In the first leg Ireland took revenge for the previous two defeats to record a shock 1-0 victory over the European Champions at Dalymount Park, thanks to a disastrous own goal by Spanish keeper Iribar. The Spanish then evened things in the second leg by beating the Irish 4-1. However since goal difference was not in use for the qualifiers a deciding game was held in Paris. Unfortunately for the Irish they were just edged out in a tight game losing to an Ufarte goal in the 79th minute.

Spain yet again provided the opposition for the 1968 European Championships when Ireland were also drawn against Turkey and Czechoslovakia. However a defeat to all three sides put Ireland out of contention for a place in the finals despite a creditable victory of the Czechs in Prague in their final match.

A couple of years later Mick Meagan became Ireland's first international manager. Unfortunately for Meagan things were not well with the Irish side as first they finished bottom of their 1970 World Cup qualifying group, followed by an even worse European Championships campaign which included a 6-0 mauling by the Austrians in Linz.

By 1971 Meagan was out of a job, replaced by Liam Tuohy. During Meagan's time as manager Ireland failed to win a game, had the first Irishman, John Dempsey, sent off in an international against Hungary in 1969 and also introduced the youngest player ever to play for the Irish team in Jimmy Holmes, when he made his debut as a substitute against Austria aged 17 years 6 months and 19 days. By the time Tuohy took over things could only get better for Irish football.

Other chapters of the history:
From the Beginning
Free State to "Emergency"
So near and yet so far
The Charlton years

Check Ireland's international record:
1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s

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