JAMES MCCLEAN’S full-blooded tackle on Poland striker Arkadiusz Milik gave the Ireland players a lift and had those present at the Aviva Stadium on their feet in the second half of last night’s international.
The Wigan Athletic winger, introduced for Aiden McGeady on 68 minutes, was clearly psyched up for the occasion and provided some much-needed pace and urgency into the team before Shane Long’s equaliser.
This is the challenge that left the Milik needing treatment:
https://vine.co/v/OLM1VDKDHAI
Below, we’ve picked four more memorable ones:
Paul McGrath – Ireland v Italy (1994)
McGrath was a colossus for the Boys in Green as they defeated eventual runners-up Italy 1-0 at the Giants Stadium. The then Aston Villa defender made countless interceptions on the day and put in this last-ditch challenge to deny Beppe Signori a one-on-one with Packie Bonner.
Jason McAteer – Macedonia v Ireland (1997)
The infamous 3-2 defeat to Macedonia in Skopje was compounded by a red card to McAteer. His dismissal was fully-deserved, however, as ‘Trigger’ caught Artim Sakiri in the chest with a horrible kung-fu kick.
Roy Keane – Ireland v The Netherlands (2001)
The most famous victory of the Mick McCarthy era came in the qualification campaign for the World Cup 2002 World Cup. Ireland faced Louis van Gaal’s star-studded Dutch side and captain Keane set the tone in the opening seconds of the game with a crunching challenge on Marc Overmars.
Richard Dunne – Russia v Ireland (2011)
Giovanni Trapattoni’s side travelled to Moscow to face Russia in a Euro 2012 qualifier and Dunne produced one of the great Irish performances to ensure the visitors kept a clean sheet in the 0-0 draw.
Sliding out off the touchline to stop former Chelsea wide man Yuri Zhirkov from breaking, the defender smacked his head off the running track beside the pitch but soldiered on after changing his bloodied shirt.
And a few more less memorable ones from recent years…
James McCarthy – Ireland v Austria (2013)
Darron Gibson – Ireland v Oman (2014)
https://vine.co/v/OuAPLipd9tD
Ciaran Clark - Aston Villa v Leicester City (2015)
https://vine.co/v/OPVmYiJ7WW3
