The Republic of Ireland management recently clipped together a sequence of six vital goals scored on foreign soil that served as huge steps along the road to qualification for major tournaments, dating back to Euro ‘88.
Mark Lawrenson at Hampden Park in 1987, a John Aldridge brace in Malta in 1989, Tony Cascarino’s late header against Albania in 1993, Gary Kelly in Cyprus in 2001, Keith Fahey in Yerevan in 2010 and Aiden McGeady’s last-gasp strike in Tbilisi in 2014. Osmosis being the ideal result.
“They are not major nations but they are significant away wins,” said Kenny, who enters Friday’s European Championships qualifier in Athens armed with a competitive away record as Ireland manager of two wins, three draws and eight losses.
A similar idea was explored before the 2-1 defeat to Portugal at Estadio Algarve in September 2021 when Cristiano Ronaldo nixed a famous Irish result.
“We want to create a narrative in the group to have that big, significant away win,” said Kenny before Ireland’s chartered flight to Greece from their training base in Antalya, Turkey.
“There hasn’t been many wins of that ilk, so it would be a great achievement if they could accomplish that. That has to be the ambition.”
Another motivational video, shown to the players in the Wembley changing room before losing 3-0 to England in November 2020, backfired spectacularly, sparking an FAI investigation that led to assistant coaches Damien Duff and Alan Kelly abruptly resigning from Kenny’s backroom team.
The Anglo-Irish clip never entered the public domain but the latest viewing is less State secret, more a case of Amber Barrett moments from yesteryear. It was Barrett who scored the winner at Hampden Park last year to beat Scotland and secure safe passage to next month’s World Cup in Australia.
The six-goal mini-movie was well received by a young Irish squad. As was Codebreaker, the new Kevin Moran documentary charting the Dubliner’s overlapping careers in Gaelic football and at Manchester United in the early 1980s.
“He is mad, isn’t he?” said Nathan Collins of Moran. “It was bizarre, you wouldn’t get away with [returning home to play for the Dubs] now because of social media.”
A draw in Friday’s Group B qualifier keeps both countries in touch with France and the Netherlands but defeat points Ireland or Greece towards a two-match playoff over five days next March to feature at Germany 2024.
Kenny halted questions this week about the €863 million investment the FAI requires to modernise stadiums, facilities and academies, by revealing details about the famous Irish goals being shown to the current group.
“To have that historic away win is important in the years we qualified for three European Championships and three World Cups.
“We showed the players Mark Lawrenson’s goal in Scotland. After that, for 1990, the significant away win was John Aldridge’s goal in Malta. We showed the players that too. In ‘94 it was actually Steve Staunton and Tony Cascarino goals against Albania. For 2002, we showed Gary Kelly’s goal in Cyprus. In 2012, Keith Fahey’s goal in Armenia. In 2016 Aiden McGeady’s goal in Georgia was the one.
“That was Keith Fahey’s first goal for Ireland, it was Gary Kelly’s second. The idea was to show the players that it might be the first goal of their international career, but it could be a significant away goal, a big away win that can give us the opportunity to qualify.
“That is the mindset of the group because we still have a lot of young players so to get that historical away win in Greece would be special for them all.”
There is a flip side to such a motivational ploy as defeat to a competent Greece team on Friday night would send Kenny to the purgatory inhabited by his predecessors.
The 1981 image of Eoin Hand, holding head in hands after Portuguese referee Raul Nazare disallowed a Frank Stapleton goal in a 1-0 loss to Belgium, remains frozen in time. Patrick Kluivert’s goals to silence the Anfield Kop in December 1993 put a full-stop on the glory days under Jack Charlton.
Mick McCarthy has the 4-2 Moscow collapse from September 2002 while Brian Kerr can never forget Tel Aviv in 2005 and Abbas Suan’s 90th-minute equaliser.
Staunton’s managerial reputation was irreparably damaged by a 5-2 defeat to Cyprus in 2006, Giovanni Trapattoni’s final managerial outing was a 1-0 loss in Vienna in 2013, while Martin O’Neill could choose the 4-1 thumping in Cardiff as the moment the wheels came off.
If victorious in Athens, there will be no issue sourcing historical pain and joy in advance of monumental September nights against France at Parc des Princes and the Dutch three days later in Dublin. All part of Irish football’s perennial swings and roundabouts.
