A handful of Novembers. November nights are for drama. Our football history is littered with them. Heartbreakers and history makers. Tension, mistakes, long flights home. Tears, celebrations and argument. Evenings when we were robbed, evenings when we got away with it and one night when Gary Mackay of Hearts and Scotland sent us a present.
It was almost inevitable then that Ireland's latest World Cup qualification saga should come wrapped in drama and should come in November on a foreign field. The events in Tehran last night continue a chapter of unlikely endings to qualification adventures for Irish teams.
Perhaps our best chance came in the qualification stages for the 1966 World Cup. We were drawn in a three-team group which included, oddly, Syria. With other more pressing business to attend to, the Syrians withdrew, leaving ourselves and Spain to battle it out. We played once in Dublin and once in Seville, each side winning their home game. The Spanish had better goal difference but in those days that device wasn't used to separate teams. Instead we went to a one-off play-off in Paris in November 1965.
Inevitably there was controversy. London - where Ireland would have enjoyed considerable support - was offered as a venue but the FAI accepted a Spanish offer of all the gate receipts if the game could be played in Paris. So, an Irish side containing John Giles and Eamon Dunphy ventured forth. The team held out for almost 80 minutes against a better Spanish side and then conceded one of those tragic slow-motion goals where the ball came right across the Irish defence finding Ufarte unmarked. The End.
Qualification for the 1982 World Cup came within reach of our fingertips. Eoin Hand's first campaign as manager saw him with an unusually talented group at his service: Brady, Lawrenson, Daly, Whelan, Stapleton, O'Leary, Hughton and Givens were all still playing.
The qualifying group they found themselves in was troublesome though. Ireland were pitched as makeweights along with Cyprus while Holland, Belgium and France were to argue over the two qualifying spots.
Ultimately our case was decided by two refereeing decisions in a game played in Brussels on March 25th, 1981. Just before half-time Ireland were awarded a free which Brady took and Stapleton scored from. The referee, however, had backed into a Belgian player lying on the ground and unaccountably disallowed the goal.
Ireland continued to defend heroically until three minutes before the end, when Gerets took one of the most celebrated dives in history just outside the Irish box. Once he was awarded the free there was a grim inevitability about the outcome. Ceulemans scored. Ireland's pockets picked. We finished the group third, level on points with Platini's France and ahead of Holland.
The near misses ended on November 11th, 1987 in bizarre circumstances. Scotland, well out of the running for a qualification spot having won two and drawn three of their seven qualifying games, travelled to Sofia to play a Bulgarian team who needed just a draw to qualify for the 1988 European Championships on goal difference.
Bulgaria had enjoyed a long unbeaten streak at home in Sofia and Ireland's chances of qualifying were so remote that a friendly game was arranged in Dublin versus Israel the night before the game as part of preparations for the next World Cup campaign. Famously David Kelly scored a hat-trick on his debut that night.
Next day in Sofia, things went as predicted for 87 minutes with the Bulgarians effortlessly holding Scotland at bay. Then the price tag came for the home sides' lack of ambition. Scotland broke and Gary Mackay placed a thoughtful shot wide of the Bulgarian goalkeeper. Ireland were in the European Championships. The big time.
Our first World Cup qualification (Italia '90) was the most straightforward. Again playing in a group from which two qualified, we were drawn with Spain, Hungary, Northern Ireland and Malta.
Despite dropping four out of six points in our opening three games (Northern Ireland, Spain, Hungary, all away) we finished strongly, benefiting from a Frank Stapleton goal at Lansdowne Road to beat the Spanish and set up a run where we won our final five matches.
In the end, it came down to another November evening. Spain beat Hungary comfortably in Seville on November 15th 1989. Ireland went to Valetta in Malta and recorded a stuttery 2-0 win when a draw would have sufficed anyway. John Aldridge at last got the knack of international goalscoring with both goals.
Our last qualification is a familiar story by now. Yet another November night, this one eight years ago. Again Spain were playing in Seville. Again Ireland visited a cauldron, this one in Belfast. A draw would do if Denmark lost to Spain but, but, but. There were no guarantees of anything. Jimmy Quinn put the North ahead with a sublime volley. Alan McLoughlin equalised with another goal totally out of context with a dire night.
In Spain the drama was incredible. Down to 10 men (their goalkeeper, Zubizerreta, having been dismissed), Spain held on for a 1-0 win. Party time.
Since then, until last night, we have subsisted on a diet of near misses and bitter Novembers. A play-off at Anfield against Holland saw the end of the Charlton era and the end of our chances of going to Euro '96 when a kid called Kluivert stuck two goals past us. It was a qualification we didn't deserve anyway, having dropped points to Liechtenstein.
Then 1997 and the noise and Europop blare of Brussels. A goal from Houghton raised hopes briefly but we were outclassed and the Belgians already had an away goal in the bag. The abiding images of the night were Shay Given's tears and David Connolly's tears. The World Cup would go ahead without us.
Last time out in the European Championships we split the powerhouses of Croatia and Yugoslavia but still managed not to qualify. We were rewarded with a trip to Turkey, to far-flung Bursa, which we undertook with a weakened side. Again the Turks had taken a goal away from Lansdowne. A scoreless draw ended with the memorable sight of Tony Cascarino fighting off most of the Turkish nation.
