The spark Irish football needed

IN ALL FAIRNESS

The worm was always going to turn in relation to football in Ireland. Considering it is the most popular participatory sport in the country, all that was needed was a spark and it’s hard not to think it got it over the last couple of weeks.

It started with the Republic of Ireland women’s team’s playoff win over Belgium which saw them rise back into the top tier of the Nations League and improves their chances of qualifying for their second straight World Cup in 2027, which is being held in Brazil.

Then there is the boys under 17 team who are currently taking part in the World Cup in Qatar, and as I write this are preparing to face Switzerland in the last 16 (Tuesday), unbeaten so far in their four games with wins over Panama and Uzbekistan in the group stage, along with a draw with Paraguay, before edging past Canada in a dramatic penalty shootout in the first knockout round last Friday. Local interest helps and it comes in the form of Roscrea’s Brody Lee who has only featured briefly in the campaign so far against Panama but played a key role in qualification.

In a twenty hour spell last Thursday and Friday, Irish football and one of its best periods in a long time with the under 17’s following on from the senior’s shock win over Portugal to keep their qualification hopes alive for the World Cup.

Once wonders was it all too late though as it still required Ireland to beat Hungary in Budapest, where we got one of the sporting moments that will go down in Irish sporting folklore. Yes, Troy Parrott’s 96th minute winning goal only secured a playoff spot for the World Cup, but things like this just don’t happen for Ireland, they usually come against us. The timing and make-up of the goal was similar to Robbie Keane’s against Germany in the 2002 World Cup, but that only secured a draw. Parrott’s fifth goal in two games was for a win which was what was needed and sparked wild celebrations, not only in Budapest but here at home, including in Sixmilebridge where in the period between full-time and the start of extra time, word filtered through of the winning goal, captured superbly by the excellent MacDara McDonnacha on TG4’s commentary.

I was one of those fortunate enough to remember the golden era of Irish football when the exploits of the senior men’s team virtually stopped the nation, and is a reminder that the men’s international team is still our flagship team, despite the gains made by the rugby team in recent years.

I was too young to remember Ray Houghton’s goal against England in Stuttgart at Euro ’88 with my first real memory being the World Cup qualifier in 1989 and Michel’s own goal which gave Ireland a 1-0 win over Spain in Dublin on their way to the World Cup.

While the context of Parrott’s match-winning goal doesn’t relate to Houghton’s goals against England and Italy at the 1994 World Cup, or Bonnar and O’Leary’s heroics in Italia 90, for an entire generation of Irish fans, this is their “moment”.

There’s a huge passion for football in Ireland, sometimes a blind one that don’t make the right decisions, including not playing underage football during the summer months when pitches are at their best. Yes, it might go head to head with the GAA but if you are looking to develop your own sport, who have to do what is best for you and fight your own corner. The calendar year plan has been shelved with underage remaining aligned with the school year, so in that context, the development of all-weather pitches around the country is essential going forward, particularly as we have seen with the poor weather of the last few weeks, and we are only entering winter. How many more game and training weekends will be lost in the coming weeks on flooded grass surfaces?

For the moment, this rare positivity around Irish football needs to be harnessed. Finance is key to that and it could be that some of the redundancies the FAI were looking for in terms of cost-cutting could be shelved as there has been a flood of applications for the next FAI Season Ticket in the last few days, while sales of Ireland kit and merchandise will be high on Santa’s list over the coming weeks. Increased sponsorship should follow also.

While it would have been great to have the World Cup playoffs coming up soon, the fact it doesn’t means the feelgood factor remains for another four months at least and could be enhanced depending on the outcome of the draw on Thursday. While it remains a difficult task to get to the World Cup with likely having to win two games away from home, considering Ireland had just one point to show for their first three games in qualification, to win their last three games was a tall order so the belief gained by the players of what they have achieved to get to this point cannot be understated. The Ireland men’s team had been beaten down for so long, you could see them playing with that negative pressure on the field, so when they next rock up again next March, they will be coming in with confidence, and who knows where that can take them.