A football match lasts 90 minutes but the memories can stay with you for a lifetime.

It was Damien Duff, speaking earlier this week in Dublin, who floated the notion of Ireland perhaps ‘doing a Leicester’ at Euro 2016 — at least in terms of narrowing the gap with teams deemed to be their superiors, like group opponents Belgium and Italy.

As the island of Ireland prepares to field two teams at this year's Euro2016 Championships, Brendan O'Brien, suggests the next six months could say much about how we see ourselves, both north and south.

Whilst his lack of game-time at Stoke City carries its own concerns into his Ireland situation, Shay Given has cracked the formula for lifting his legacy into the realm of the great Dino Zoff.

Gay Byrne chats to Hozier on The Meaning of Life tomorrow on RTÉ One.

Joachim Low has warned Germany they must not underestimate Algeria, who will be looking to settle a 32-year-old score tonight.

Algeria 1 Russia 1

USA 0 Germany 1

Mesut Ozil has brushed aside any suggestions that Germany would be involved in another ‘biscotto’ affair and manufacture a convenient draw against the United States in Recife today.

The World Cup may be a wonderful tournament and this could be one of the best ever, but let’s face it, the group stage can turn into a drag.

It might be close to 30 years ago, but Mickey Walsh remembers the goal like it was yesterday.

In La Liga’s latest example of club chiefs writing cheques their teams can’t cash, Barcelona announced last Monday that its socios would vote in the new year on whether to spend 300m “remodelling” their current stadium or at least 600m on a new ground elsewhere in the city.

Giovanni Trapattoni says that Seamus Coleman has the potential to deliver at the highest level in football and could even go on to merit comparison with two of Italy’s most celebrated full-backs, the 1982 World Cup winning pair of Claudio Gentile and Antonio Cabrini.

For a good four days there, from Saturday morning through to Wednesday, the Facebook feed went unfed and unchecked, Twitter managed to survive without @Rackob and the internet lost a good few hundred page hits.

On a visit to Brazil this week Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness jointly opened a George Best exhibition in Sao Paolo.

There are some who call the ’70s the decade that taste forgot, all too conveniently overlooking the fact that it gave us David Bowie in his prime, Horslips in their pomp and, from glam rock to punk rock, a feast of plenty to bookend the decade on Top Of The Pops.

Tottenham Hotspur 1 Swansea City 0

The story goes that Juan Martin Hernandez could have been a professional soccer player had he twisted his neck and glanced down a different road.

This appears to lie in that murky grey area somewhere between sporting expediency and downright cheating

It is usual in football for a crushing defeat to be followed by recrimination and the search for scapegoats.

The inquest has begun, the tribunals of investigation have been convened and, already, there’s a whiff of cordite in the air.

The scenario Italy feared from the start in this tournament was needing a win against Ireland with Spain and Croatia both in a position to qualify with a draw.

Does any country shoot itself in the foot with such consistency as England?

You think you know Bill O’Herlihy. He’s like that inoffensive ornament on the living room mantel that blends in against a beige wall. The background noise you’ve got used to.

IT WAS the greatest fairy-story in Polish football history. Lechia Gdansk were a third-division club but they beat Widzew Lodz, Slask Wroclaw and Ruch Chorzow on their way to the 1983 Polish Cup final.

Trevor Francis has today been discharged from hospital after suffering a suspected heart attack on Friday.

Former Brazil great Socrates, who captained Brazil at the 1982 World Cup, died today. He was 57.

Brazil legend Socrates has been admitted to hospital in a critical condition and placed on life-support, according to reports.

WITH a few weeks to go, I feel we are still at a safe enough remove from the European Championship play-offs for your (admittedly nervous) correspondent to make an unusually bold prediction: Ireland will qualify for the 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine.

Former Northern Ireland forward Gerry Armstrong would be prepared to manage his country if the Irish Football Association opt to make a part-time appointment.

Striker James McClean has confirmed his intention to switch allegiance to the Republic of Ireland after claiming he is on the verge of a move to Barclays Premier League club Sunderland.

ITALY’S 1982 World Cup-winning coach, Enzo Bearzot, died in Milan yesterday.

THE old cricket verse, At Lord’s, puts it better than we ever could: O my Hornby and my Barlow long ago.

ALGERIA will be forced to field a depleted side against Republic of Ireland in tonight’s friendly in Dublin after striker Karim Matmour joined Madjid Bougherra and Hassan Yebda on the injured list this week.

Former France coach Michel Hidalgo has claimed FIFA’s decision not to name France as one of the eight top seeds for next summer’s World Cup might have been punishment for Thierry Henry’s handball.

RUGBY fans should well remember what Neil Back did to Munster in 2002. It was the closing minutes of the Heineken Cup final between the Irish team and his side, Leicester. The English side is winning by 15 points to 9, but Munster have a scrum in front of the Leicester posts, in a perfect position to launch a final assault on the Leicester line, to score a try that would have left Munster with a conversion to win the cup.

THERE was a lot riding on the European Championships this summer even if — indeed, especially because — the build-up in this neck of the woods had been comparatively low key.

TO BORROW the words of a famous fictional Roman general: ‘Are you not entertained?’ Ulster has shone like a beacon in what has been a mediocre championship but never so bright as on Saturday evening.

VIOLINS, hankies and onions at the ready, please, as we pity poor David Pizarro.

Fenerbahce boss Zico will remain faithful to his Brazilian heritage by sending out his side to attack Chelsea – but he may have to do it without his compatriot Roberto Carlos.

ONE of the minor joys of European or World Cup tournaments is the way they throw up the most unlikely alliances between different nations.

ARGENTINA’S director of rugby Les Cusworth is convinced the best is yet to come from Juan Martin Hernandez, the Pumas fly-half dubbed rugby’s Maradona.

WORLD CUP-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro has paid a glowing tribute to Marcello Lippi, who yesterday made an “irrevocable” decision to step down as coach of Italy.

Legendary Italian striker Paolo Rossi is tipping Fabio Cannavaro to edge Zinedine Zidane for the best player award at the World Cup.