Stewing at home, precious memories of Euro 88 in Germany all the more vivid

Five games in four cities in seven days. Ireland nailing their lines and your Panini sticker album made flesh. Euro 88 was beyond a dream for this 12-year-old.

ON THE ROAD: Republic of Ireland supporters during the UEFA 1988 European Football Championship Finals Group B match between England and Republic of Ireland at Neckarstadion in Stuttgart, Germany. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile

When it was all done, when Wim Kieft had spun the most unlikely of headers into the hard Gelsenkirchen turf, around Packie Bonner and into the Irish net, George Hamilton sat down with Jack Charlton in the studios of Germany’s ZDF TV station and tried to sum the whole mad enterprise up with one snappy intro.

Only a week had passed since Ray Houghton had put the ball in the English net in the Neckarstadion five hours down the road but, for those of us blessed to have been on the road in Germany that summer of 1988, a lifetime of memories had been crammed into our bags and stuffed in every nook and cranny of our minds.