England v Ireland: A Brief History

On the 15^th February 1995 England travelled to Lansdowne Road to take part in an International Friendly with Ireland.  The match was abandoned in the first-half after crowd trouble sparked by a David Kelly goal for Ireland and a disallowed English goal took its toll on the stands and descended onto the pitch.

The trouble was blamed on Neo Nazi group Combat 18 and unfortunately has overshadowed the history of the fixture which will see a new chapter added this Wednesday in Wembley.

History between the two nations has always been frosty with trouble reported in Dublin City Centre when the teams met five years earlier. There have been some great footballing occasions however, and one of these from an Irish context has to be the 1-0 victory in the opening Group B match at Euro 88 in Germany.

A roasting hot afternoon in Stuttgart saw Ireland’s first appearance at a major international finals and added to this was the spice of the game being against ‘The old enemy’. A looping Ray Houghton header after 6 minutes gave Ireland a lead that they never relinquished, leaving the tens of thousands of Irish supporters in the ground ecstatic.

Two years later and the pair would meet again in the World Cup this time. An early Gary Lineker goal looked to have stolen England a victory until a low Kevin Sheedy drive from the edge of the box into the far corner past English goalkeeper Peter Shilton rescued a point for the Boys in Green. Ireland managed to reach the Quarter-Final were they were knocked out by a strike from the tournament’s top scorer Salvatore “Toto” Schillaci.

 The English national team have also had some memorable results. A 6-2 aggregate World Cup win in 1957 established some early control over their neighbours, with players like Tom Finney and Stanley Matthews inspiring victory.

Kevin Keegan scored a double in the 1980 European Championship qualifier in Wembley before Gary Lineker and Trevor Steven scored in a 2-1 friendly victory in 1985 to stretch England’s unbeaten run over the Irish to seven before Ray Houghton spoiled that statistic in Stuttgart.

Ireland did have a win over England earlier than 1988 when they defeated The Three Lions in Goodison Park in 1949, just the second ever meeting of the sides with goals from Con Martin and Peter Farrell.  

Since the 1988 game in Stuttgart, there have been three draws up until the 1995 abandoned game.

Previous encounters between the sides will never be forgotten for a plethora of reasons but most will hope for more of a footballing spectacle than the last meeting between England and the Republic of Ireland.

RECORD:

Irish wins: 2

English wins: 5

Draws: 7 (Incl. 1995)