Dates with destiny on the horizon

REMEMBER, remember the 11th and 15th of November.

The European Championship play-off dates against Estonia next month happen to be red-letter ones in this nation’s football history.

In fact, Ireland weren’t even playing on Wednesday, November 11, 1987, but that was the blue moon night when a Gary Mackay goal for Scotland against Bulgaria in Sofia ensured that, against all the odds and for the first time ever, Ireland qualified for the European Championship finals.