Time for number 44 on the count down and ‘Zinedine Kilbane’ makes an appearance at the Stade De France.
Sigh… here’s another great moment that promised so much in terms of qualification for a major championship, this time World Cup 2006, yet ultimately ended in disappointment.
Let’s set the scene – Ireland’s previous campaign was a write off as Brian Kerr arrived in after two devastating defeats to Switzerland and Russia in the post-Saipan madness.
This time there was room for optimism. Kerr had a full campaign to get it right and had postive friendly results against Holland and the Czech Republic. Ireland’s greatest player Keano had returned from exile and France were – to dust off an old chestnut – ‘a shambles.’
The previously unbeatable France, the first and only country to win a World Cup and European Championship back-to-back until the current Spanish crop, had been dumped out by Greece in the quarter-finals of the European Championship in the summer and the less said about their World Cup in 2002 – the better.
Their new manager Raymond Domenench was under fire suffering from player dissatisfaction and revolt…phew… thank goodness that ended soon…
Clearly they were on the wane, but still they had nine Champions League players starting against Ireland in the Stade de France including a much-hyped new starlet called Rio Antonio Mavuba.
Ireland were on the crest of the wave though and although the final score line read 0-0, Ireland dominated.
The French media were astonished that one percent of the Irish Republic’s population made their jovial way to Paris for the match with 30,000, inflatable-hammer wielding Paddys, making it nearly a home fixture.
The French side were equally astonished by the performances of Duff, O’Shea, O’Brien and Clinton Morrison. Morrison played his best twenty minutes in a green jersey until he was injured and replaced by the newly-blooded Andy Reid.
The player that grabbed the attention that night was Kevin Kilbane.
Usually a winger for Ireland until that night, he bestrode the central midfield at the Stade De France like a colossus forming a formidable partnership with the snarling, defensive Keane.
He shackled Mavuba while still managing to rampage forward.
A lot has been said about Kilbane’s loyalty and professionalism over the years, the only player to beat his sequence of sixty-six unbroken consecutive international matches between 1999 and 2011 is the great English defender Billy Wright.
Then there is that possibly apocryphal story of Killer turning up to English underage schoolboy trials in an Irish tracksuit. (We want to believe it’s true.)
Little though has been made of over the years of Kilbane’s ability, which as he demonstrated this night, he has in spades.
So number 44 on the countdown is devoted to one of Ireland’s most undervalued player’s best moment in a green jersey.
Killer we salue you.
Below is another tribute by the wonderful band My Brother Woody that we hope fans will blaring from boom-boxes this summer so that Kilbane makes it to Poland in spirit.
Today marks 44 days to go until the start of Euro 2012, so stick with us every day as we present another memorable Irish soccer moment.
