Euro 1988 Football Championship – Irish Qualifying Campaign

The Euro 88 qualifying group for the Republic of Ireland soccer team included Bulgaria, Belgium Scotland and Luxembourg. This was a difficult group for the Irish particularly coming so soon after a very poor World Cup Qualifying campaign which saw the end of Eoin Hand’s reign as Irish soccer manager. His successor was Englishman Jack Charlton. Through the infamous granny rule Charlton and the FAI had managed to unearth some useful footballers to be added to the Irish squad.

Following a decent start, where Ireland a late 2-2 draw away to the Belgians through a last minute penalty scored by Liam Brady, Ireland surrendered the initiative by only drawing at home with the Scots. The Irish seized back the initiative by beating the Scots through an early Mark Lawrenson goal in the away fixture. This was followed by a 2-1 defeat to the Bulgarians in Sofia. This to be the nature of this group with the four main contenders all taking points from each other. There was a real ebb and flow to Euro 88 Group 7.

Following a disappointing 0-0 home draw with Belgium Ireland went on to defeat Luxembourg twice and, in what was the Republic’s best performance in the qualifier group, then beat the Bulgarians 2-0 at Lansdowne Road (now Aviva Stadium). Despite finishing with three straight wins the Republic would be out of the competition if could manage to beat Scotland at home in Sofia.

Gary Mackay – Euro 88 Irish Soccer Hero

A home victory would leave the Bulgarians on twelve points, one more that the total that Ireland had amassed. To the amazement and sheer joy of Irish soccer fans an unknown Scotsman called Gary Mackay scored an 87th minute winner against Bulgaria for Scotland. This was all the more amazing as Scotland could not qualify and therefore had nothing tangible to play for while Bulgaria had qualification for the Euro 88 Finals within it’s grasp.

For all Irish soccer fans, of that vintage, here is the Gary Mackay goal against Bulgaria in Sofia in the 87th minute of the match on 11 November 1987 with some context from Jack Charlton – courtesy of YouTube.

Euro 88 Qualifying Campaign – Group Table

Republic of Ireland Euro 88 Qualifiers – Match Results

Irish World Cup Qualifying Group Results

Number of Appearances and Goals Scored in Irish World Cup Qualifying Campaigns

Irish European Championship Qualifying Group Results

Irish European Championship Qualifying Group Results

Number of Appearances and Goals Scored in Irish Euro Championship Finals Qualifying Campaigns