Republic of Ireland v Netherlands Football Results

The Republic of Ireland has played Netherlands 21 times and the first meeting between the two nations was at the Olympics in Paris in June 1924.

Ireland had received a bye in the first round and had beaten Bulgaria 1-0 in the second round courtesy of a second-half goal from Paddy Duncan. Following this the Irish faced the Dutch in the quarter finals.

The Irish team in that first match against Holland was: Paddy O’Reilly (Athlone Town); Bertie Kerr (Bohemians); Jack McCarthy (Bohemians); Ernie McKay (St James Gate); John Joe Dykes (Athlone Town); Tommy Muldoon (Athlone Town); Mickey Farrell (St James Gate); Dinny Hannon (Athlone Town); Paddy Duncan (St James Gate); Frank Ghent (Athlone Town); Johnny Murray (Bohemians). John Joe Dykes was captain on the day.

The Irish were behind after just six minutes when Ocker ‘Ok’ Formenoy scored for the Dutch. Frank Ghent scored an equaliser in the 33rd minute and that ended the scoring in normal time. The Netherlands went on to win the match 2-1 through an extra time goal from Formenoy again.

Ireland’s First Victory Over Holland

Ireland played the Netherlands again 12 years later in a friendly match in Amsterdam. A goal each from Joe O’Reilly, of Brideville, and Paddy Moore, of Shamrock Rovers, gave the Irish their first win against the Dutch.

Ireland V Netherlands at Major Football Finals

In an odd quirk of fate Ireland and Holland met in the first three major football championships that the Irish reached. This was during a golden period for Irish football while Jack Charlton was Irish soccer manager. Unfortunately for Ireland the best result that that they could achieve against the Dutch masters in this series was a 1-1 draw in the group stages of the 1990 World Cup. Full details of each encounter can be found by following these links:

Ireland V Netherlands – Euro 1996 Qualifier Play-Off

Ireland’s next competitive match was in December 1995 and it turned out to be Jack Charlton’s last match in charge of the Irish team. Following a mixed bag of results in the Euro 1996 qualifiers Ireland was drawn to meet Holland in a one-match play-off at Anfield, the home of Liverpool FC. The Irish were largely outplayed by a very good Dutch team and two goals from Patrick Kluivert gave them a 2-0 victory. Full details can be found here: Ireland v Holland Euro 1996 Play-off

Ireland V Holland – World Cup 2002 Qualifiers

Another notable match between the Irish and the Dutch was during the 2002 Word Cup qualifiers. Mick McCarthy had taken over from Jack Charlton and in his second World Cup qualification campaign he had earned a creditable 2-2 draw in the away match in Amsterdam. The crunch match in this World Cup qualifying campaign came in the second last match at Lansdowne Road (now the Aviva Stadium) to the Dutch. A win would assure the Republic of Ireland a play-off place at the very least. In an inspiring performance Roy Keane drove the Irish to a fantastic victory with Jason McAteer scoring the deciding goal in the 68th minute. An interesting feature of this match was that the Holland’s manager Louis Van Gaal (who would later go on to manage Manchester United) finished the match with four centre forwards on the field as he desperately sought an equaliser. For the record the four forwards were, Patrick Kluivert, Ruud Van Nistlerooy, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, and Pierre Van Hooijdonk.

Republic of Ireland Match Results Against Netherlands

Republic of Ireland v Netherlands Record Summary

Ireland v Netherlands World Cup Finals Record

Ireland v Netherlands Euro Finals Record

Ireland v Netherlands Olympics

Ireland v Netherlands Euro Qualifiers Record

Ireland v Netherlands World Cup Qualifiers Record

Ireland v Netherlands Friendly Matches Record