Irish Football seems to be making its self more relevant in recent European Competition with Shamrock Rovers making it out of the Conference Leauge group stages last year after a successful run which saw them even face Premier League giants “Chelsea” and now as St. Patrick’s Athletic, Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers are on a respectful European run individually, I look back on 3 European clashes that were memorable for the League of Ireland.
1- “Dundalk v Bate Borisov” 2016-European Run
Dundalk beat Bate Borisov of Belarus in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round in 2016 3 0 at home in oriel park(The away leg being a 1 0 loss for Dundalk) which earned them a playoff against Legia Warsaw of Poland and saw them drop to the Europa League where they drew with the top Erdevise side “AZ-Alkmaar” and became the first Irish side to win a European group stage match when they beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-0. They narrowly lost out on reaching the knockout stages of the competition.
2-“Athlone stun the Italians 1975”
9,000 people crammed into St. Mel’s Park to witness the occasion of Athlone Town taking on Italian and world football giants “AC Milan” in 1975. And while the pairing seemed like “David and Goliath”, the home side held their own against the Italian giants. In fact, they had the better of a first half in which they failed to convert a penalty. The game finished 0-0, creating headlines around the world.
3- Cork City make BBC headlines as they draw with Bayern 1-1,1991
30,000 gathered in Musgrave Park which is now the second home of Munster Rugby and a well known Concert setting to see the part time Cork City side take on one of the best teams in the world being Bayern Munich. Bayerns captain “Effenberg” was noted to comment David Barry looked like his Grandfather!” Barry would score in the Match alongside Effenberg in the exciting draw. This was a momentous occasion as an Irish side shocked the German Giants. Bayern would go on to win the Second leg.
4. Shamrock Rovers travel to Larne in 2024 in the Europa Conference League group stage and score 4 past them.
Shamrock Rovers travelled to their Northern counterparts on the Island of Ireland Larne fc,where they won comfortably 4-1 as an own goal and goals from Josh Honohan, Graham Burke and Johnny Kenny (who have all put on the Irish national shirt at various levels), determined the result. Shamrock Rovers finished 10th out of 36 teams in the new European Leauge format and narrowly lost to Molde of Norway in the knockout phases.
A blast from the past- A matchday programme from the Sell out Champions League qualifier as Cork City faced Legia Warsaw in 2018.
