Pain from Spain in Gdansk not the worst of the worst

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

Outpassed and outclassed by rampant opposition, Ireland became the first of the 16 Euro 2012 finalists to exit the competition. Even allowing for Spain’s awesome ability, it was a humiliating night. Never before had Ireland been so empathically beaten at a major finals. Perspective is needed though. As painful as such a drubbing was though, Ireland have had worse days.

Think back to October 7, 2006, for instance. The Steve Staunton era had a quite few dark days but none quite as bad as the 5-2 defeat by Macedonia in the qualifying campaign for Euro 2008. In that game a Stephen Ireland goal – remember him? – put Staunton’s men in front early on before goals from Michalis Konstantinou and Alexis Garpozis turned the game on its head. A Richard Dunne goal hauled Ireland level before half-time and it seemed Ireland couldn’t play any worse in the second half. Sadly, they could. Konstantinou grabbed his second before a brace from Constantinos Charalambidis turned it into a rout.