Ireland will never be Spain, but we can still ruffle feathers

Even now, a quarter of a century later, Euro ’92 stands as the one that really got away.

An Ireland team managed by Jack Charlton that was at the height of its powers went unbeaten through a group containing England and Poland, only to lose out to the auld enemy for a place in Sweden on goal difference. What might have been, eh?

Similar regrets apply to Paris in 2009 when an Irish team that outplayed France on French soil was deprived of a shot at the World Cup by Thierry Henry’s handball.