The strange case of Stephen Ireland

EIGHT minutes into Ireland’s European Championship qualifier against Slovakia in Bratislava on Saturday night, Stephen Ireland was on top of the world, having just given his country the lead in a vital match away from home.

Barely an hour and a half later, the fact that Slovakia had dented Irish qualification hopes with an injury time equaliser, was suddenly the least of the young midfielder’s problems.

When the 21-year-old Cobh native scored that goal, his fourth of an impressive campaign for his country, he did so oblivious to the fact that the extraordinary saga which would catapult him into the headlines for all the wrong reasons was already under way.