Some day, while suffering a demoralising runaround of the type France treated us to last Monday, Irish football may locate its inner George Costanza.

Chris Hatherall celebrates the Euro 2016 wow factor.

Jack Charlton was Ireland manager the last time Ireland played a senior international match in Cork, and Munster’s finest provided the opposition, writes Martin Claffey.

Twenty-five years ago today at Italia ‘90, Brazil were beating Scotland 1-0 and Costa Rica were beating Sweden 2-1 but, putting the kibosh on what was the most keenly anticipated contest of the day back in Ireland, Jack Charlton was simply refusing to even take the pitch against Eamon Dunphy.

When Ireland played Scotland in last November’s European Championship Qualifier at Celtic Park, much of the pre-match build-up was dominated by the potential presence of two Scottish-born players, James McCarthy and Aiden McGeady, in Martin O’Neill’s side.

As a boy in Dublin, with a Cork mother, I admired the sterling sportsman Noel Cantwell, just as my late father had admired Cobh’s “Gorgeous Gael”, the boxer Jack Doyle.

Jack Charleton may have overseen our national soccer team’s most successful era, but retired veteran broadcaster Bill O’Herlihy has revealed he was certainly not the former Ireland manager’s number one fan.

Three days on and the images from Belo Horizonte that stick in the mind are not those of David Luiz’s Sideshow Bob- standing-on-a-rake routine, nor Germany’s seven wonders, but instead it’s the youngsters and grown men crying in the stands.

It hardly carried the glamour or gravitas of an induction into Cooperstown or Springfield, it wasn’t like there was a Larry Bird to welcome his Magic Johnson into this particular Hall of Fame, but there was something particularly pleasing about seeing Ronnie Whelan being honoured at the FAI International Awards on Sunday.

Books for grown-ups

Kevin Kilbane has taken issue with Alex Ferguson’s criticism of Roy Keane’s managerial abilities, and says the Corkman would be only narrowly behind Mick McCarthy as his choice to be Ireland’s next manager.

However England got on last night — it doesn’t matter anyway, since they have decided not to win the next World Cup — it was a long week for the current undisputed holder of the All-England Controvassy title.

First it was Only a Game, now Eamon Dunphy has travelled The Rocky Road in the first half of his memoirs, with the iconoclastic journalist and broadcaster still raging against the dying of the light.

It was a night when the worst fears of Ireland supporters came to pass.

We got a little taster this week of what it will be like if it all goes horribly wrong at the Euros, with the pundits lining up to pour withering scorn on the Trap Project after Ireland’s drab 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic.

Former Ireland boss Jack Charlton is recovering in hospital after undergoing hip replacement surgery following a fall at his home.

I’M sure Giovanni Trapattoni doesn’t need any additional pressure going into tonight’s European Championship qualifier against Macedonia, but if he does chance to feel the hand of history on his shoulder this morning, it might just be because, on this day 25 years ago, the most celebrated period in Irish football history officially kicked off.

I’M not saying I’m a jinx but no sooner had I predicted that Liverpool would win the league last season than they started badly, never recovered and ended up dropping out of the top four.

AND the big news from the squad announcement for the games against Russia and Slovakia is that, well, there’s no big news really.

PELE’S visit to Ireland this week reminded me that I’ve been lucky enough to meet with the five footballers I consider to be the greatest of all time: George Best, Maradona, Johann Cruyff, Zinedine Zidane and ‘El Rei’ himself.

Former Republic of Ireland manager Jack Charlton is recovering today after being taken to hospital after collapsing during a family holiday in Spain.

I was fortunate to witness a chance encounter between Jack Charlton and Giovanni Trapattoni

NIALL QUINN has challenged Sunderland’s Irish contingent to “stick their chests out now and improve by 10-15%” after the arrival of a host of high-profile signings at the Stadium of Light in recent weeks.

IT was no love affair.

ALL hail the asterisk! Irish football’s most reliable typographical symbol is back and, as the dictionary definition would have it, busy living up to one of its most useful functions: “replacing portions of a profanity in order to reduce offence”.

DURING the week Bertie Ahern made an extraordinary admission about costing the State a fortune.

FORMER referee Anders Frisk had the room rocking with a memorable anecdote at the launch of the FAI’s Referee Development Plan in Dublin yesterday.

One man’s sound reasoning is another’s rant. Here Colm O’Connor remembers those men who lost their rag so memorably at the World Cup.

The one which got Roy thrown out of the World Cup:

JACK CHARLTON is to manage a team one last time at Lansdowne Road, 11 years after his highly successful decade in charge of Ireland came to an end.

AFTER yesterday’s European Championship draw in the Montreux Centre, Welsh boss John Toshack found himself sitting between Jurgen Klinsmann and Steve Staunton, a veteran manager flanked by two neophytes.

Former Irish boss Jack Charlton, who took the national team to Euro ‘88 and to successive World Cups in the ‘90s, has given Steve Staunton his full backing and blessing as new Irish team manager.

THE handshake is warm, the smile is broad, he’s back among old friends - and, of course, he still manages to get the names mixed up.

A BELOVED Irish manager, the most prized English football trophy and abusive fans — these are the latest recipients of forceful tackles by Roy Keane.

We look at how Republic of Ireland coach Mick McCarthy and Spain counterpart Jose Antonio Camacho shape up.

We look at how Republic of Ireland coach Mick McCarthy and Spain counterpart Jose Antonio Camacho shape up.

Mick McCarthy will have a great big smile on his face whatever pot luck is inflicted upon Ireland in tomorrow’s World Cup draw in South Korea.