As we all know, the love affair between Ireland and World Cups did not begin until Italia 90 when we first qualified for international football's showpiece event.
But we could have got there in 1958 at the expense of England. The final table from that competitions qualifiers show England pipped Ireland by two points and a 1-1 draw at Dalymount Park between the two neighbours proved crucial in keeping Ireland from going to Sweden.
And it came in cruel fashion as the Three Lions scored a late goal through John Atyeo to break Irish hearts as the commentary from the time attests.
That match was Off The Ball's next stop on our Ford Sporting Moments series building up to next month's Aviva Stadium friendly.
"The effect of Atyeo's goal was quite dramatic. Moments earlier the whole stadium had been rocking with excitement. England were beaten - or so we all thought at the time - and the happy punters, everybody felt privileged to be there to witness a win to put even the victory over Goodison Park nine years earlier in the shade," said former Irish Times' soccer writer Peter Byrne on Off The Ball.
John Atyeo Source: Wikimedia Commons
"They couldn't wait for the Scottish referee, a man called Hugh Philips, to signal the end of the game and many of the fans were chanting the countdown to the final whistle. Atyeo delivered a header which matched a little miracle in the making," said Byrne, who highlighted commentator Philip Greene's words as among the great lines as it encapsulated the "desolation" felt by the Irish fans.
"Even the gods it seemed, were affronted by the injustice of it all," he added, as well as revealing that Atyeo was "never again selected for England", meaning puncturing Ireland's dreams was his last act.
Yet, it was a marked improvement on Ireland's 5-1 defeat to England 11 days earlier as Byrne explained and he also described the build-up to the drawn match as "like Christmas eve in the middle of May", heightened by a goal in three minutes by Alf Ringstead.
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