REELING IN THE EUROS: Looking back on Ireland’s Euro ’12 opener against Croatia

Paul Moore

A game that never got going.

The rocky road to Poznan: After a 26 year absence, Ireland were finally back at Europe’s biggest international tournament, but their qualification path was far from easy. Keith Fahey’s goal in Armenia set us on our way while Andorra were easily dispatched.

Russia absolutely battered us in the opening 50 minutes at the Aviva, they went 3-0 up, but defeat to the Russians was followed-up by a hard earned point in Slovakia. Back-to-back wins against Macedonia gave us a very real possibility of qualifying, but it required a heroic Richie Dunne performance in Moscow to keep our chances alive.

Irish qualification was ultimately secured following a 5-1`play-off win against Estonia.

COYBIG! Here’s what the match tickets looked like.

Croatia Ticket

The build up: Ireland had never lost the opening game in the four tournaments that they competed in, but that record was under serious threat inside the opening few minutes. Trap’s side went into the game on the back of a 14 match run unbeaten, but Ireland quickly became undone. Shay Given clearly wasn’t fit and Croatia took full advantage.

Here’s how the RTE panel previewed the match.

RTE Euro 2012 Panel Discuss Ireland – Day 2… by haughtyjack

The craic: Take a look at the scenes on the tram heading to the match.

Clip via – Conor Darcy

Did you know?: Keith Andrews has openly said that “by the time the tournament started, we couldn’t stand the sights of each other” due to the lengthy time that they spend in the pre-tournament training camp.

The starting XI: Shay Given – John O’Shea, Sean St Ledger, Richard Dunne Stephen Ward – Aiden McGeady, Glenn Whelan, Keith Andrews, Damien Duff – Kevin Doyle, Robbie Keane (Capt.)

The match: It’s still one of the strangest matched that I’ve ever seen in the flesh because Ireland never got going, mainly due to the god awful timing of the goals. Mandzukic opened the scoring with a third-minute header that seemed like it took an eternity to hit the back of the net. Sean St Ledger’s 19th-minute equaliser offered us some hope, but Nikica Jelavic’s dinked finish saw the Croats head into the break with the lead.

Any chance of a second-half comeback were decimated by Mandzukic’s second goal, a stooping header that ricocheted back off the post to hit Shay Given and go in.

The memorable moment when: Sean St Ledger did this.

The reaction: Here are some quotes along with how various outlets reported on the result.

Trapattoni said “They dominated the first [half], they had more possession, we were inferior in midfield. I think the first little mistake, [we were] too slow to come out of the box and the goal put us in a very bad situation, psychologically. We had a little reaction after the goal but the second goal was two metres offside, I said that to the referee.”

Sean St Ledger said “The most important thing was the timing of the goals. You always want to get off to a bright start, but they went 1-0 up, which was tough. To get back to 1-1 was good. Then I thought the fans were behind us and then they scored. When we came out for the second half we knew the next goal was vitally important.When you go 3-1 down to a side like Croatia it is always going to be an uphill task. They put men behind the ball and they are a good side.”

The Irish Times