MARY HANNIGANlooks back in time

1998 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING CAMPAIGN

October, 1996 – Republic of Ireland 3-0 Macedonia

THE FIRST meeting between the countries proved to be a comfortable enough one for Mick McCarthy’s side, Jason McAteer opening the scoring early in the first half before two second-half goals from Tony Cascarino sealed the points.

IRELAND: Alan Kelly; Denis Irwin, Jeff Kenna, Gary Breen, Ian Harte, Steve Staunton; Andy Townsend, Alan McLoughlin, Keith O’Neill, Jason McAteer; Tony Cascarino. Subs: John Aldridge (for O’Neill 82), Alan Moore (for Harte 86), Liam O’Brien (for McLoughlin 88), Kenny Cunningham, Phil Babb, Shay Given, David Kelly.

April, 1997 – Macedonia 3-2 Republic of Ireland

AS PETER Byrne wrote in The Irish Times,"garbed in something approaching fluorescent amber, Ireland often projected the appearance of a gang of council workers . . . but significantly less productive".

Macedonia’s only previous wins in their six years as an international side had been against Liechtenstein and Cyprus, so when Alan McLoughlin put Ireland 1-0 up with a header after just eight minutes it seemed unlikely that they’d go on to enjoy their third.

But from there it was all downhill for the visitors, Macedonia 2-1 up by half-time after Jason McAteer and Terry Phelan gave away penalties for handball. It was 3-1 on the hour mark when Georgi Hristov fired past Alan Kelly, and although David Kelly pulled a goal back there was to be no equaliser. The day was topped off by McAteer’s red card for a karate kick on Mitko Stojkovski.

Ireland went on to finish second in the group, behind Romania, losing to Belgium in the play-offs.

IRELAND: Alan Kelly; Denis Irwin, Gary Breen, Steve Staunton, Terry Phelan; Jason McAteer, Andy Townsend, Roy Keane, Alan McLoughlin; Jon Goodman, Tony Cascarino. Subs: Keith O’Neill (for Cascarino 46), Ian Harte (for Phelan 56), David Kelly (for O’Neill 76), Kenny Cunningham, Alan Moore, Shay Given, Jeff Kenna.

EURO 2000 QUALIFYING CAMPAIGN

June 1999 – Republic of Ireland 1-0 FYR Macedonia

IRELAND HAD opened this qualifying campaign with wins over Croatia and Malta before losing 1-0 away to Yugoslavia. Their next opponents were their old buddies Macedonia, and while there was to be no repeat of the calamity in Skopje from two years before, the game at Lansdowne Road was a struggle. Niall Quinn finally broke the deadlock in the 64th minute, heading home Mark Kennedy’s cross. Hristov came close to equalising, his chip over Alan Kelly hitting the bar, but Ireland held on.

IRELAND: Alan Kelly; Stephen Carr, Kenny Cunningham, Gary Breen, Denis Irwin; Mark Kennedy, Lee Carsley, Mark Kinsella, Damien Duff; Niall Quinn, Robbie Keane. Subs: Kevin Kilbane (for Duff 62), Tony Cascarino (for Keane 67), David Connolly (for Quinn 81), Dean Kiely, Alan Maybury, Phil Babb, Alan McLoughlin

October 1999 – FYR Macedonia 1-1 Republic of Ireland

OKAY, HERE we go again. This was the last game of the group and a win in Skopje combined with Yugoslavia failing to win away to Croatia on the night, would have seen Ireland top the group.

The hosts hadn’t quite seen the funny side of the worst Irish player in training having to wear an “I had a Macedonia” shirt, in reference to the 1997 mishap, but the signs were good that a similar fate would be avoided when Niall Quinn put Ireland 1-0 up after 17 minutes.

But, just as they had done against Croatia in their previous game, a late, late equaliser was conceded, an unmarked Goran Stavrevski heading home a corner in the 93rd minute.

Yugoslavia’s draw in Croatia was enough to see them top the group, Ireland finishing as runners-up – they were beaten on away goals by Turkey in the play-offs.

IRELAND: Alan Kelly; Gary Kelly, Denis Irwin, Gary Breen, Kenny Cunningham, Steve Staunton; Alan McLoughlin, Mark Kinsella, Mark Kennedy; Niall Quinn, Robbie Keane. Subs: Keith O’Neill (for Keane 66), Tony Cascarino (for Quinn 78), Matt Holland (for Kennedy 85), Dean Kiely, Phil Babb, Stephen Carr, Kevin Kilbane.

EURO 2012 QUALIFYING CAMPAIGN

March 2011 - Republic of Ireland 2-1 Macedonia

AFTER 12 years apart, Ireland and Macedonia were reunited in the draw for the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, Robbie Keane was the sole survivor from that 1999 game when the teams met in Dublin in March.

Macedonia goalkeeper Edin Nuredinoski had what might be described as a ’mare, failing to save a tame enough long-range shot from Aiden McGeady after 84 seconds, before dropping Darron Gibson’s free-kick in to the path of Keane, who scored his 46th international goal.

But, as we’ve learnt by now, things are rarely comfortable against Macedonia, and when Goran Pandev put Ivan Trickovski through to score just before half-time it had the looks of being a very long evening.

If it wasn’t for Keiren Westwood, making his competitive debut in the absence of the injured Shay Given, it could have felt interminable, the goalkeeper blocking Trickovski’s effort in a one-on-one 15 minutes from time.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Kieren Westwood; Kevin Foley, Darren O’Dea, Richard Dunne, Kevin Kilbane; Aiden McGeady, Glenn Whelan, Darron Gibson, Damien Duff; Kevin Doyle, Robbie Keane. Subs: Shane Long (for Doyle, 20), Keith Fahey (for Gibson, 77), James McCarthy (for Keane 87), David Forde, Stephen Kelly, Ciarán Clark, Liam Lawrence .