Rep of Ireland v Croatia: The history

Friendly International August 10th, 2011 Republic of Ireland 0 Croatia 0:Luka Modric provided the highlight in a low-key but intermittently entertaining scoreless draw at the Aviva Stadium, showing just why Spurs were so keen to hang on to a player of his class at the start of last season.

Having scored 10 without reply in their four previous games, Ireland were toothless on the night and, as the night wore on, neither side was in the mood to go for goal with any sort of abandon.

Friendly International

November 16th, 2004

Republic of Ireland 1 Croatia 0

Not a contest that provided too much footage for the highlights reels, not even by the standards of friendly games between these two countries. Once again it was Robbie Keane who found the net for Ireland and once again the Dubliner might have had a few more but his was one of many patchy performances on a night that would have been entirely forgettable but for the efforts of a couple of fringe players to make an impression.

Friendly International

August 15th, 2001

Republic of Ireland 2 Croatia 2

Niall Quinn had earned a 2-2 draw in the first-ever encounter between these two sides here at Lansdowne Road five years earlier, this time it was Croatia who would strike late. That said, before the flood of substitutions rendered the match almost meaningless, the Irish looked superior in just about every department but goals from Robbie Keane and Clinton Morrison were cancelled out by Davor Vuginec and Davor Suker.

Euro 2000 qualifier

September 4th, 1999

Croatia 1 Republic of Ireland 0

Had the gods been less benevolent it might have ended up in a six-goal mauling, a day to set alongside other grim days for Ireland teams abroad over the years. As it turned out, Croatia had to rely on an injury-time winner at Zagreb’s Maksimir Stadium with Davor Suker profiting from Kenny Cunningham’s error to all but end Irish hopes of qualifying automatically for the European Championships.

Euro 2000 qualifier

September 5th, 1998

Republic of Ireland 2 Croatia 0

Goals from Denis Irwin and Roy Keane, both within 15 minutes of the kick-off, got Ireland’s Euro 2000 challenge up and running but the result failed to mask problems that would come back to haunt Mick McCarthy’s side later in the campaign. Croatia, suffering from a World Cup hangover after their spectacular finish in France ’98, had no response to the pragmatism of players such as Irwin, Keane and Steve Staunton.

Friendly International

June 2nd, 1996

Republic of Ireland 2 Croatia 2

Niall Quinn’s late strike rescued Ireland from the indignity of an unprecedented sixth consecutive defeat as the sides met for the first time at Lansdowne Road. Ireland, for all their admirable commitment, were within 90 seconds of the precipice with Davor Suker and Zvonimir Boban helping Croatia build a 2-1 lead. Up popped Quinn at the end, however, to give Mick McCarthy some valuable breathing space in his efforts to rebuild the national side.