COYBIG!
France is going to turn green next summer as Ireland take their place at Euro 2016 following an eventful qualifying campaign that started last September in Tbilisi.
Like all Irish qualification campaigns, this one hasn’t been straightforward but there has been some truly memorable moments from Group D and the play-off win against Bosnia. Here’s a quick recap.
1) McGeady comes of age.
Georgia 1-2 Ireland, 7 September 2014
Get in!: Aiden McGeady pops up with one of the most valuable goals in his Irish career. The control, technique and execution are all stunning here.
2) Robbie breaks the record.
Ireland 7-0 Gibraltar, 11 October 2014
Get in!: Keano becomes the highest-scoring player in Euro qualifying history with a 13-minute treble against the minnows. It’s going to be a long time before we see a player that’s as prolific as him in the green jersey. Legend.
3) Roy Keane and the book.
Week of Ireland vs Gibraltar and Germany.
Get in!: It takes a brave journalist to keep their phone on ‘general’ when Keane is doing a press conference. The account of why he didn’t sign Robbie Savage is still one of our favourite things from the book. That seems like a loonnng time ago, doesn’t it?
4) Our beloved centurion
Germany 1-1 Ireland, 14 October 2014 Get in!: Germany absolutely battered us in the opening half and took a deserved lead thanks to Toni Kroos’ long range effort. What followed next will be remembered forever. A sublime piece of skill from sub Jeff Hendrick (he would do the same later) perfectly laid the ball across for John O’Shea to send the entire country into delirium. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHDpdyvPWAs https://twitter.com/ShaneLowryGolf/status/522127156873555968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/WayneRooney/status/522126317723353088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
5) Drama before Scotland.
Build up to Celtic Park Get in!: Roy Keane called the Gardaí after an incident at the team hotel in Portmarnock on Wednesday evening which took some of the attention away from the meeting with Scotland. Martin O’Neill also had to make a very awkward looking statement.
6) Shaun Maloney breaks our heart.
Scotland 1-0 Ireland, 14 November Get In!: Scotland were worthy winners on the night and Keane’s death stare was probably the only other memorable thing.
7) In in for the Long haul.
Ireland 1-1 Poland, 29th March
Get In!: In a game that Ireland never deserved to lose, a familiar story was beginning to develop. Try, try and try but it seemed like we would get no reward for our efforts. Enter Shane Long. The Southampton striker came off the bench in the 84th minute and rescued a valuable point in injury time. 
8) That familiar feeling.
Ireland 1-1 Scotland, June 13
Get in!: Walters may have been offside for his goal but the o.g off John O’Shea was incredibly cruel. Martin O’Neill’s decision to sub Wes Hoolahan, who looked like our most viable option for a goal on the day, only added to the air of frustration. France seemed a long, long distance away after leaving the Aviva on that particular Saturday. 
9) Valeri Qazaishvili, you’re a great man.
Georgia 1-0 Ireland, September 4
Get in!: This night won’t be remembered for Cyrus Christie’s well taken opener against Gibraltar in a routine 0-4 win but rather the night that Ireland were thrown a Euro 2016 lifeline. This man is owed a pint in Ireland.
10) An amazing solo from Hendrix Hendrick.
Ireland 1-0 Georgia, September 7th
Get in!: This match was always going to be a nervy affair and it required an incredible piece of skill to fashion a goal. Hendrick the former St. Kevin’s Boys man delivered yet again and Jon ‘The Beast’ Walters was more than happy to finish.
11) Aviva Stadium, we finally have lift-off.
Ireland 1-0 Germany, October 8th
Get in!: Football logic would dictate that the world champions would simply have to show up in Dublin and secure their qualification to France. Wrong! Ireland rallied and every single player worked their socks off in a famous win. We will NEVER get tired of seeing Shane Long’s wonderful winner. Take it out Manuel Neuer.
After more than a decade of waiting, we had finally taken a ‘big’ scalp on our own soil when it really mattered.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceG7EUOjDGg
12) The celebrations
The morning after Ireland beat the world champions
Get in!: A Garda car blasting ‘Put ’em under Pressure’ at 3am. This is what football does to our country.
https://twitter.com/ExtremeJuno/status/652300440567197696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
13) A hangover in Poland
Poland 2-1 Ireland, October 11th
Get in!: Krychowiak gave the hosts an early lead before Jon Walters instantly drew us level from the penalty spot. Lewandowski scored what was presumably his 73rd goal in 18 games to secure Poland’s place in France. The group didn’t lie and we got what we deserved, a play-off.
Bosnia now await and these two matches are undoubtedly going to be nervy affairs but we believe in our lads. Get behind the team and as always, COYBIG! 
14) The best goal we never saw
Get in! : All the talk in the build up to Ireland’s first-leg against Bosnia and Herzegovina was about how the boys in green would struggle against the technically sound Bosnians. What was supposed to be a volatile cauldron of noise ultimately turned out to be the setting for Ireland’s most assured away performance on the road to France. Truth be told, the match will be remembered for Robbie Brady’s strike that nobody saw at the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUz8YyUQTbM
15) Walters for President
Get in! : It’s somewhat fitting that Jon ‘The Beast’ Walters scored the two goals that ensured our passage to France next summer because the Stoke City man has probably been our best performer in qualification.
There aren’t enough words or platitudes to do him justice but this article should do the trick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbgqNXj501E
