Today I'm going back 31 years to 1990 and England's visit to Lansdowne Road, Dublin to play the Republic of Ireland in a Qualifier for the 1992 European Championships. Lansdowne Road, home of the Irish Rugby Football Union, is no more, having been demolished in 2007 to make way for it's modern replacement: The Aviva Stadium. It wasn't before time as the old ground was rather ramshackle and I distinctly recall a more or less total lack of signage outside to direct attendees to the correct entrance which made for chaos outside the ground before kick off.
This match was played at what was probably the height of Ireland's footballing powers under Jack Charlton. Both sides had had a summer to remember in which they exceeded expectations at the Italian World Cup. Ireland got as far as the Quarter-Finals where they bowed out to hosts Italy whilst England went all the way to the Semi-Finals before typically succumbing to the West Germans on penalties. Suddenly Ireland had a footballing identity to be proud of and this was an early chance for the Irish public to see the Boys in Green pit their wits against one of the World's strongest sides. Tickets were like gold dust! My tickets came courtesy of a friendship made in Italy. We had swapped shirts and addresses one drunken night in Genoa and I was so glad that I did that when the hunt for tickets for this match began.
Since the World Cup, England had changed their Manager. Graham Taylor was now in charge of "the Impossible Job" and it was he that made the controversial decision to omit national treasure Paul Gascoigne from the starting line-up in favour of Aston Villa's Gordon Cowans, recalled after an absence of four years. It was to be Cowans' tenth and final appearance for his country. Another England player making his final appearance that afternoon was Steve McMahon (17 caps but no goals).
The weather on the day was foul. Wet and windy. Typically Irish! It was as if the football gods were trying to maximise home advantage for Eire. Certainly the conditions were something of a leveller and Mick McCarthy almost took advantage with a free kick from inside his own half that caught the wind and sailed all the way onto the crossbar and then behind for a goal kick! It remained goalless at the break but, in the 67th minute, England, playing on the counter attack swept upfield and David Platt tapped in the easiest of chances to give the Three Lions the lead. That lead was to last just 12 minutes however before a hopeful long ball pumped into England's box was met by the head of the man with the least Irish sounding name, Tony Cascarino and Ireland were level. You could say that it was a goal typical of a Jack Charlton team. There was to be no further scoring and both sides would surely have seen the result as a point won.
England ended up winning the Qualifying Group by a single point from the Republic of Ireland and it was only the Group Winners who would travel to Sweden for the 8-team tournament Finals with no Play-Off second chance for the Group runners up. Poland and Turkey made up the numbers in the four-team Group. Sadly for England, they were rather lacklustre in Sweden, finishing bottom of another four-team Group containing Denmark, France and hosts Sweden. A disappointing England didn't win a game but only missed out on a Semi-final berth by a single point. That place went to Denmark and they shocked everyone by winning the tournament despite not even having Qualified for it as they were only there due to the worsening political situation in Yugoslavia.
CRB Match No. 685
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