“I DON’T EVEN know why I was there. That wasn’t even my position to be in,” Ronnie Whelan said last year, recalling that famous goal in Ireland’s second Euro ’88 match with the USSR.
“It was just a long throw from Mick (McCarthy), I just decided to get myself onto the edge of the box and see what happens. Paul (McGrath) played a little bit more defensively than me and when it comes across you just think ‘I might make a right fool of myself here’, but I don’t really care. It’s a European Championships so if it goes in I’m a bit of a hero.
“We had a lot of gifted footballers on our team and that afternoon we decided to play. Jack didn’t tell us to play, he said the same thing – to put it in the corners and go up and attack them.
But we played some tremendous football that day. It’s probably one of the best performances we’ve seen from an Irish team for an awful long time.
“People still remember it (the goal) now. They all call it ‘the shinner’.”
6 days to Euro 2012: Ronnie Whelan's 'shinner'
“I DON’T EVEN know why I was there. That wasn’t even my position to be in,” Ronnie Whelan said last year, recalling that famous goal in Ireland’s second Euro ’88 match with the USSR.
“It was just a long throw from Mick (McCarthy), I just decided to get myself onto the edge of the box and see what happens. Paul (McGrath) played a little bit more defensively than me and when it comes across you just think ‘I might make a right fool of myself here’, but I don’t really care. It’s a European Championships so if it goes in I’m a bit of a hero.
“We had a lot of gifted footballers on our team and that afternoon we decided to play. Jack didn’t tell us to play, he said the same thing – to put it in the corners and go up and attack them.
“People still remember it (the goal) now. They all call it ‘the shinner’.”
YouTube credit: chimpanzeethat1
7 days to Euro 2012: Spain are perennial underachievers no more
8 days to Euro 2012: Who stuck the ball in the English net?
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Countdown COYBIG Euro '88 Euro 2012 Euro Countdown Euro2012 Ireland Jack's Army