There will be three Irish players involved in the Champions League this week, two as starters, one almost certainly as a sub. It is a pitifully low number but something we have become conditioned to. And if anything three in action in the one week is considered a boon, given how in recent years, there has often been none.
And it is why an unknown anniversary is relevant because once upon a time Irish football was in a much better spot. Like this week 40 years ago, when three Irish players lined out in the starting X1 for the defending European Cup winners, Liverpool. Better again, a fourth Irishman was on the bench that night as Lech Poznan lost 4-0 at Anfield.
You simply couldn’t imagine that now, four Irish players in a Real Madrid squad, three starting, another wondering if he’ll get the nod to come on for the defending Champions League champs. But the 1980s was a different time in Irish football. It started with a journey by four Dubs - Brady, Stapleton, Devine and O’Leary - with Arsenal to the 1980 Cup Winners Cup final.
Read more: Meet the man who won the League of Ireland with Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers and Derry City Read more: Eamon Dunphy column: Missing out on Brexit fund deadline shows FAI is a laughing stock Stapleton would go on to join Kevin Moran at Manchester United and knock Diego Maradona’s Barcelona out of the same competition four years later. Kevin Sheedy would score a decisive goal in the ‘85 Cup Winners Cup final; Chris Hughton and Tony Galv.
