In 1958 Northern Ireland
became the smallest country to qualify for the World Cup when they reached the
finals in Sweden. Then they had knocked
out Italy to get there. They got as far
as the Quarter-Finals, losing 0-4 to France.
They had never qualified for a major tournament since then, but in 1980
they had reason to be optimistic as FIFA had announced an enlarged tournament
for the 1982 finals in Spain. The format
had been extended from 16 to 24 teams, and there were 13 places up for grabs
from Europe.
The Irish had been drawn
in Group 6 along with Scotland, Sweden, Portugal and Israel. For some reason Israel were allowed to
compete in the UEFA competition even though they weren’t even a UEFA member.
The Irish FA had drawn up
their plans for qualification by re-instating Billy Bingham, who’d played in
the 1958 finals. This was his 2nd
spell as national manager having lead them between 1967-71. Bingham took over from Danny Blanchflower. The Irish had performed well during the
qualification campaign for the 1980 European Championship, finishing 2nd
to England in their group which also contained Republic of Ireland and
Bulgaria. Bingham set about restoring
Irish pride in their national team and within 2 years they became one of the
most talked about countries in world football.
Despite English football
adopting 3pts for a win, international football still used the 2pts for a win
system.
26th
March 1980, Tel Aviv
ISRAEL (0) 0
NORTHERN IRELAND (0) 0
Jennings (Arsenal), J.
Nicholl (Man Utd), C Nicholl (Southampton), J. O’Neill (Leicester), Nelson
(Arsenal); M O’Neill (Notts Forest), Finney (Cambridge), Cassidy (Newcastle),
McIlroy (Man Utd); Armstrong (Tottenham), Cochrane (Middlesbro)
The qualifying campaign
began in March 1980 even before the European Championships. The Irish made the trip to Tel Aviv. Their two previous meetings had both been at
that venue. In the Israel side was Avi
Cohen who was playing his club football at Liverpool at the time. The game was a fairly uneventful goalless
draw and was interrupted when the floodlights failed with 15 minutes to
go. At the time, Rifat Turk hit the
crossbar with a free-kick just as darkness fell on the pitch. Pat Jennings certainly kept the Irish in the
game with a string of good saves.
Before their next
qualifying match they had the British Home International Championships to
contend with. Billy Hamilton scored the
only goal in a 1-0 win at home to Scotland.
Four days later they grabbed a 1-1 draw at Wembley against England after
Noel Brotherston unfortunately scored an own goal, but within a minute Terry
Cochrane had equalised. England had been
stunned up at Wrexham losing 1-4 to Wales, so when the Irish beat Wales in
Cardiff 1-0 thanks to a Brotherston goal they had won the Championship outright
for only the second time in their history.
The Home International
Championships had been a useful experience in providing Bingham with some new
options including Luton defender, Mal Donaghy and Blackburn’s winger Noel
Brotherston. They both made their debuts
in that competition with Brotherston scoring.
They then went off to Australia for a summer tour. Two wins and a draw against Australia meant
Bingham’s side were unbeaten in 7 matches since he’d taken over.
18th
June 1980, Stockholm
SWEDEN 1
ISRAEL 1
10th
September 1980, Stockholm
SWEDEN 1
SCOTLAND 1
15th
October 1980, Windsor Park
NORTHERN IRELAND (3) 3 (Brotherston 24, McIlroy 28, J.
Nicholl 37)
SWEDEN (0) 0
Platt (Middlesbro); J.
Nicholl (Man Utd), C. Nicholl (Southampton), McClelland (Mansfield), Donaghy
(Luton); O’Neill (Nottingham Forest), Cassidy (Newcastle) [McCreery (QPR)],
McIlroy (Man Utd); Brotherston (Blackburn), Armstrong (Watford), Hamilton
(Burnley) [Cochrane (Middlesbro)]
When Sweden visited
Windsor Park, they had already played two qualifiers, both at home and with
disappointing fortunes. They were held
by Israel, 1-1, and then beaten 0-1 to a Gordon Strachan goal against Scotland. Brotherston scored his 3rd goal
for his country when he put them in front after 24 minutes. Sammy McIlroy then made it 2-0 four minutes
later. Another United player, Jimmy
Nicholl, scored his only international goal and Northern Ireland were 3-0 up by
half-time. That remained the final score
and the Irish were buoyant from their start.
Manager, Bingham claimed afterwards “this was the best performances
since I’ve been manager”.
15th
October 1980, Hampden Park
SCOTLAND 0
PORTUGAL 0
12th
November 1980, Tel Aviv
ISRAEL 0
SWEDEN 0
19th
November 1980, Lisbon
PORTUGAL (0) 1 (Jordao 60)
NORTHERN IRELAND (0) 0
Platt (Middlesbro); J.
Nicholl (Man Utd), C. Nicholl (Southampton), J. O’Neill (Leicester), Donaghy
(Luton); M. O’Neill (Nottingham Forest), Cassidy (Newcastle) [McCreery (QPR)],
McIlroy (Man Utd); Brotherston (Blackburn), Armstrong (Watford), Hamilton
(Burnley) [Cochrane (Middlesbro)]
The Irish travelled to
Lisbon and experienced their first setback as Portugal won 1-0. Jordao got the goal on the hour and the Irish
were concerned all their hard work in October may come to nothing. It was the first time they’d lost to Portugal
in 5 meetings.
17th
December 1980, Lisbon
PORTUGAL 3
ISRAEL 0
[group]
25th
February 1981, Tel Aviv
ISRAEL 0
SCOTLAND 1
25th
March 1981, Hampden Park
SCOTLAND (0) 1 (Wark 75)
NORTHERN IRELAND (0) 1
(Hamilton 70)
Jennings (Arsenal); J
Nicholl (Man Utd), C Nicholl (Southampton), McClelland (Mansfield), J O’Neill
(Leicester), Nelson (Arsenal); McCreery (QPR), McIlroy (Man Utd); Cochrane
(Middlesbro), Armstrong (Watford) Hamilton (Burnley) [Spence (Southend)]
Northern Ireland made their
trip to Hampden Park, having not won there since 1974. Goalless until the last 20 minutes then Billy
Hamilton gave the visitors the lead, but John Wark equalised barely 5 minutes
later and the game ended 1-1.
28th
April 1981, Hampden Park
SCOTLAND 3
ISRAEL 1
29th April 1981, Windsor Park
NORTHERN IRELAND (0)
1 (Armstrong 74)
PORTUGAL (0) 0
Jennings (Arsenal); J
Nicholl (Man Utd), C Nicholl (Southampton), J O’Neill (Leicester), Nelson
(Arsenal); M O’Neill (Nottingham Forest), McCreery (QPR), McIlroy (Man Utd);
Cochrane (Middlesbro), Armstrong (Watford), Hamilton (Burnley)
Portugal came to Belfast,
unbeaten and yet to concede. Again the
Irish left it to the last 20 minutes to score but the goal contained a slight
comedic effect from the visitors. Sammy
Nelson’s left wing free-kick into the box looked to be going out for a
goal-kick when Terry Cochrane scrambled to keep it in. His cross into the 6-yard box was headed in
by Gerry Armstrong. Armstrong was able
to head in unchallenged as the Portuguese keeper, Bento, ran into one of his
own defenders when attempting to claim the cross. It was Portugal’s 3rd trip to
Belfast and they had yet to come away with a win. Armstrong was the first player to breech the
Portuguese defence in this group and opened things up for the two home nations.
29/04/1981
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
PTS
|
GD
|
Scotland
|
5
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
6
|
2
|
8
|
4
|
N.Ireland
|
5
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
6
|
2
|
Portugal
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
4
|
1
|
5
|
3
|
Israel
|
6
|
0
|
2
|
4
|
2
|
8
|
2
|
-6
|
Sweden
|
4
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
2
|
-4
|
In May the Home
International Championships were abandoned due to the troubles in Northern Ireland. The Irish only managed to complete one of
their fixtures when they lost 0-2 away to Scotland.
3rd
June 1981, Stockholm
SWEDEN (0) 1 (Borg 50, pen)
NORTHERN IRELAND (0) 0
Jennings (Arsenal); J.
Nicholl (Man Utd) [McClelland (Mansfield)], C. Nicholl (Southampton), J.
O’Neill (Leicester), Nelson (Arsenal); M. O’Neill (Nottingham Forest), McIlroy
(Man Utd), McCreery (QPR); Cochrane (Middlesbro), Armstrong (Watford), Hamilton
(Burnley) [Spence (Southend)]
June was all about
Sweden. They had yet to win a game in
this group but when the Irish arrived in Stockholm they turned that around with
a 50th minute penalty giving them a 1-0 win. Three weeks later they then caused a surprise
by winning 3-0 at home to Portugal. The
group was now wide open.
24th
June 1981, Stockholm
SWEDEN 3
PORTUGAL 0
24/06/1981
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
PTS
|
GD
|
Scotland
|
5
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
6
|
2
|
8
|
4
|
N.Ireland
|
6
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
5
|
3
|
6
|
2
|
Sweden
|
6
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
5
|
5
|
6
|
0
|
Portugal
|
5
|
2
|
1
|
2
|
4
|
4
|
5
|
0
|
Israel
|
6
|
0
|
2
|
4
|
2
|
8
|
2
|
-6
|
As 1980-81 season ended, Northern Ireland had
two more qualifiers to play and both were at home, against Scotland and
Israel. Portugal were also at home
twice, with a trip to Israel in between.
Sweden, in contrast had the toughest run-in with two away games in
Scotland and Portugal. With two
countries to qualify wins were going to be important.
9th
September 1981
SCOTLAND 2
SWEDEN 0
14th
October 1981, Windsor Park
NORTHERN IRELAND (0) 0
SCOTLAND (0) 0
Jennings (Arsenal); J.
Nicholl (Man Utd), C. Nicholl (Southampton), J. O’Neill (Leicester), Donaghy
(Luton); M. O’Neill (Man City), McIlroy (Man Utd), McCreery (Tulsa);
Brotherston (Blackburn), Armstrong (Watford), Hamilton (Burnley)
Scotland had gone a long
way to securing their place in Spain when they beat Sweden in September. Victory in Belfast would confirm things. The game was a tight contest as both sides were
keen to defend their position. It ended
goalless and the Irish knew they would need to beat Israel to go through. For Scotland, they had qualified for the
finals.
14th
October 1981, Lisbon
PORTUGAL 1
SWEDEN 2
Sweden pulled off a
dramatic win in Lisbon as Persson scored with just a minute to go. Portugal’s qualification hopes were in
tatters having lost 3 in a row. They
needed to win their final two matches to stand a chance of going through and
hope Northern Ireland didn’t beat Israel.
28th
October 1981, Tel Aviv
ISRAEL 4
PORTUGAL 1
Israel put paid to
Portugal’s hopes with a stunning victory at home. Attention now turned to the final day of
qualifiers. Northern Ireland were at
home to Israel knowing a draw would be enough to see them qualify, albeit on
goal difference.
28/10/1981
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
PTS
|
GD
|
Scotland
|
7
|
4
|
3
|
0
|
8
|
2
|
11
|
6
|
Sweden
|
8
|
3
|
2
|
3
|
7
|
8
|
8
|
-1
|
N.Ireland
|
7
|
2
|
3
|
2
|
5
|
3
|
7
|
2
|
Portugal
|
7
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
6
|
10
|
5
|
-4
|
Israel
|
7
|
1
|
2
|
4
|
6
|
9
|
4
|
-3
|
18th
November 1981, Lisbon
PORTUGAL 2
SCOTLAND 1
18th
November 1981, Windsor Park
NORTHERN IRELAND (1) (Armstrong 27)
ISRAEL (0) 0
Jennings (Arsenal); J.
Nicholl (Man Utd), C. Nicholl (Southampton), J. O’Neill (Leicester), Donaghy
(Luton); Cassidy (Newcastle), McIlroy (Man Utd), McCreery (Tulsa); Brotherston
(Blackburn), Armstrong (Watford), Hamilton (Burnley)
40,000 packed into
Windsor Park to watch the Irish confirm their place in the Finals. Needing only a draw, they made certain of
qualification when Gerry Armstrong scored, what proved to be, the only goal of
the game after 27 minutes. A free-kick
wide on the right was floated into the area by Jimmy Nicholl and Billy Hamilton
rose above the defence to nod the ball down and Armstrong met it first time on
the turn and the Irish had their lead. This
Armstrong/Hamilton partnership was becoming crucial to the team’s success, and
more was to come.
18/11/1981
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
PTS
|
GD
|
Scotland
|
8
|
4
|
3
|
1
|
9
|
4
|
11
|
5
|
N.Ireland
|
8
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
6
|
3
|
9
|
3
|
Sweden
|
8
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
7
|
8
|
8
|
-1
|
Portugal
|
8
|
3
|
1
|
4
|
8
|
11
|
7
|
-3
|
Israel
|
8
|
1
|
2
|
5
|
6
|
10
|
4
|
-4
|
Northern Ireland had
qualified and conceding just 3 goals.
Bingham had tightened up the defence and this proved to be the
cornerstone to their success. In the
previous twelve months before he took over they’d conceded 17 goals in 8
matches.
The draw for the finals
in Spain was held on 16th January 1982. The 24 qualifiers would be drawn into six
groups. Northern Ireland was drawn into
Group Five along with hosts, Spain, Yugoslavia, and first time qualifiers,
Honduras. With two to qualify, everyone
was expected to beat Honduras, so the Irish knew they needed to get something
out of the Spanish or Yugoslav games in order to progress.
In World Cup year, the
British Home International Championships were re-scheduled to be completed
earlier than normal to keep players fresh for the World Cup. The Irish were up first with a trip to
Wembley to meet England. They drew their
last meeting with England, ending a run of 6 straight defeats. At this stage the Irish had only beaten
England once, back in 1957 when Billy Bingham was playing, but this time they
were put to the sword as England won 4-0.
23rd
February 1982, Wembley
British Home
International Championships
ENGLAND (1) 4 (Robson
1, Keegan 48, Wilkins 84, Hoddle 86)
NORTHERN IRELAND (0) 0
Jennings (Arsenal); J.
Nicholl (Man Utd), C. Nicholl (Southampton), J. O’Neill (Leicester), Donaghy
(Luton), Nelson (Brighton); M. O’Neill (Norwich), McIlroy (Stoke); Brotherston
(Blackburn), Armstrong (Watford), Hamilton (Burnley)
24th
March 1982, Paris
Friendly
FRANCE (2) 4 (Zenier 31, Couriol 45, Larios 57, Genghini 80)
NORTHERN IRELAND (0) 0
Platt (Middlesbro); J.
Nicholl (Toronto), C. Nicholl (Southampton), J. O’Neill (Leicester), Donaghy
(Luton); M. O’Neill (Norwich), McIlroy (Stoke) [Spence (Southend)], McCreery (Tulsa)
[Caskey(Derby)]; Brotherston (Blackburn), Armstrong (Watford), Cochrane
(Middlesbro) [Stewart (QPR)]
Before their next game in
the Home International Championships, they were away again when they went to Paris to
meet France. This was the beginning of a
wonderful French side who would eventually finish third in the World Cup and
their flair was definitely on show that night as they won comfortably, even
without their talisman, Platini.
Bingham experimented with
two wingers, something Blanchflower had tinkered with during his time as
manager, but it didn’t work as the French midfield had far too much quality to
be given so much room.
28th
April 1982, Windsor Park
British Home
International Championships
NORTHERN IRELAND (0) 1 (McIlroy
53)
SCOTLAND (1) 1 (Wark 32)
Platt (Middlesbro);
Donaghy (Luton), McClelland (Rangers), J. O’Neill (Leicester), Nelson (Brighton);
M. O’Neill (Norwich), McIlroy (Stoke), Cleary (Glentoran); Brotherston
(Blackburn), Healy (Coleraine), Campbell (Aston Villa)
After beating Northern
Ireland, England went onto beat Wales to give them a great chance of winning
this competition again. Northern Ireland
were next up against Scotland who they’d just finished a qualifying campaign
against. Bingham used to game to blood
three players. Felix Healy, Jimmy Cleary
and Bobby Campbell all made their debuts and performed well enough to remain in
the squad later in the year. John Wark
gave Scotland a first half lead but Sammy McIlroy equalised and the game was
drawn.
27th
May 1982, Wrexham
British Home
International Championships
WALES (1)
3 (Curtis 15, Rush 60, Nicholas 70)
NORTHERN IRELAND (0) 0
Jennings (Arsenal) [Platt
(Middlesbro)]; J. Nicholl (Toronto), C. Nicholl (Southampton), McClelland
(Rangers), Donaghy (Luton); Healy (Coleraine), McIlroy (Stoke), Cleary
(Glentoran) [Campbell (Aston Villa)]; Brotherston (Blackburn), Armstrong
(Watford), Hamilton (Burnley)
The Irish preparations
took another blow when they were well beaten by Wales. Alan Curtis gave the home side the lead in
the first half and then two goals in 10 minutes in the second half from Ian
Rush and Peter Nicholas completed the win for the Welsh. This defeat consigned the Irish to bottom of
the table.
It was now time for Billy
Bingham to name his squad for the World Cup Finals.
The biggest surprise was
Norman Whiteside, a 17 year old from Belfast playing in Manchester United’s
youth team. Whiteside had become
United’s youngest player since Duncan Edwards when he came on as a substitute
against Brighton in April when he made his debut. Much was talked about him and some had even
compared him to George Best. He was one
of 3 uncapped players in the squad, 2 of them were of the 4 who played in the
domestic league.
During Bingham’s first
spell as manager he was able to call upon the services of George Best, but the
mercurial Irishman had played his last game for his country in 1977 and would
bow out of international football never to have given the world stage a glimpse
of his outrageous talents. Another
‘legend’ looked to be heading for the same fate, but Ireland’s qualification
meant that Pat Jennings would at last be able to appear in the World Cup
Finals. Bingham was also able to select
other vastly experienced players such as Jimmy Nicholl, Sammy Nelson, David
McCreery and Sammy McIlroy who all had FA Cup winners’ medals to parade. Martin O’Neill had won the League and
back-to-back European and League Cups with Nottingham Forest. Chris Nicholl won the League Cup with Aston
Villa and John McClelland and Tommy Cassidy also had domestic Cup Final
runners-up medals in their collection.
Squad
No.
|
Player
|
Position
|
Age
|
Club
|
Caps
|
1
|
Pat Jennings
|
Goalkeeper
|
37
|
Arsenal
|
91
|
2
|
Jimmy Nicholl
|
Defender
|
26
|
Toronto Blizzard
|
43
|
3
|
Mal Donaghy
|
Defender
|
24
|
Luton Town
|
12
|
4
|
David McCreery
|
Midfield
|
24
|
Tulsa Roughnecks
|
39
|
5
|
Chris Nicholl
|
Defender
|
35
|
Southampton
|
41
|
6
|
John O’Neill
|
Defender
|
24
|
Leicester City
|
17
|
7
|
Noel Brotherston
|
Midfield
|
25
|
Blackburn Rovers
|
14
|
8
|
Martin O’Neill
|
Midfield
|
30
|
Norwich City
|
44
|
9
|
Gerry Armstrong
|
Striker
|
28
|
Watford
|
37
|
10
|
Sammy McIlroy
|
Midfield
|
27
|
Stoke City
|
56
|
11
|
Billy Hamilton
|
Striker
|
25
|
Burnley
|
16
|
12
|
John McClelland
|
Defender
|
26
|
Rangers
|
10
|
13
|
Sammy Nelson
|
Defender
|
33
|
Brighton
|
49
|
14
|
Tommy Cassidy
|
Midfield
|
31
|
Burnley
|
23
|
15
|
Tommy Finney
|
Midfield
|
29
|
Cambridge United
|
14
|
16
|
Norman Whiteside
|
Striker
|
17
|
Manchester United
|
0
|
17
|
Jim Platt
|
Goalkeeper
|
30
|
Middlesbrough
|
15
|
18
|
Johnny Jameson
|
Midfield
|
24
|
Glentoran
|
0
|
19
|
Felix Healy
|
Striker
|
26
|
Coleraine
|
2
|
20
|
Jim Cleary
|
Midfield
|
26
|
Glentoran
|
2
|
21
|
Bobby Campbell
|
Striker
|
25
|
Bradford City
|
2
|
22
|
George Dunlop
|
Goalkeeper
|
26
|
Linfield
|
0
|
World Cup 1982
So to the most
anticipated occasion for Irish football in 24 years. The first game in their group was hosts,
Spain, up against Honduras who were appearing in their first ever finals. The Central Americans caused a shock when
they took the lead after only 8 minutes.
Spain equalised from the penalty spot midway through the second half and
the game ended 1-1.
16th
June 1982, Valencia
SPAIN 1
HONDURAS 1
The next night Northern
Ireland were in action in Zaragoza against Yugoslavia. Norman Whiteside was given his first cap for
his country in a side captained by Martin O’Neill. Whiteside broke Pele’s record as the youngest
player to play in a World Cup, aged 17 years and 41 days.
17th
June 1982. Zaragoza
World Cup, Group 5
YUGOSLAVIA (0) 0
NORTHERN IRELAND (0) 0
Yugoslavia was making
their first appearance in the finals since 1974. In their team was Nikola Jovanovic who was at
Manchester United, and also future Arsenal player, Vladimir Petrovic. A game of few clear cut chances, although the
Irish seemed to have the better of them, there were no goals but that suited
both teams.
Jennings (Arsenal); J.
Nicholl (Toronto), C. Nicholl (Southampton), McClelland (Rangers), Donaghy
(Luton); M. O’Neill (Norwich), McIlroy (Stoke), McCreery (Tulsa); Hamilton
(Burnley), Armstrong (Watford), Whiteside (Man Utd)
20th
June 1982, Valencia
World Cup Group 5
SPAIN 2
YUGOSLAVIA 1
21st
June 1982, Zaragoza
World Cup, Group 5
HONDURAS (0) 1 (Laing 60)
NORTHERN IRELAND (1) 1 (Armstrong 10)
Jennings (Arsenal); J.
Nicholl (Toronto), C. Nicholl (Southampton), McClelland (Rangers), Donaghy
(Luton); O’Neill (Norwich) [Healy (Coleraine)], McIlroy (Stoke), McCreery
(Tulsa); Hamilton (Burnley), Armstrong (Watford), Whiteside (Man Utd)
[Brotherston (Blackburn)]
The Irish were soon on
the attack and a left-foot cross from Norman Whiteside into the area found
Martin O’Neill free, but his header went over when he really should’ve done
better. 10 minutes in and Ireland had a
free-kick over on the left wing. McIlroy
curled it in right-footed, it hit the bar, bounced down for Chris Nicholl to
head it against the bar again, where Gerry Armstrong was on hand to head the
ball over the line and the Irish were in front.
Many were expecting an avalanche of goals but the Hondurans were made of
sterner stuff. Not long after,
Betancourt saw his shot hit the bar of Jennings goal and bounced back out
again. Towards the end of the half,
Armstrong hit the post with a shot as the Irish tried to force a 2nd
goal.
Early in the second half,
Whiteside thought he’d scored his first international goal but it was
disallowed for Hamilton’s push on a defender as he headed the ball down for
Whiteside. On the hour, Honduras had a
corner on the right and it was met by Betancourt whose bullet header was
superbly pushed over the bar by Jennings.
The resultant corner was then headed in by Laing on the near post. Both teams had chances to add to their tally,
but it ended 1-1. Northern Ireland would
now need to get a result from their last match against the hosts.
21/06/1982
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
PTS
|
GD
|
Spain
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
2
|
3
|
1
|
Honduras
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
Northern Ireland
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
Yugoslavia
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
-1
|
This was the World Cup
which changed the rules about final group matches. Owing to an arrangement between West Germany
and Austria to play out a 1-0 win for the Germans, thus taking both teams
through, FIFA changed the rules to deny the opportunity of fixing. But for this World Cup the final group
matches took place on different days.
The position within the group before this was that Spain had 3pts,
Northern Ireland and Honduras had 2pts and Yugoslavia 1pt. If Honduras beat Yugoslavia then the Irish
would need to do the same to Spain. It
seemed inconceivable that these two ‘minnows’ could progress. Spain knew they would just need a draw
against the Irish to go through.
24th
June 1982, Zaragoza
World Cup Group 5
HONDURAS 0
YUGOSLAVIA 1
A penalty 2 minutes from
time from Petrovic gave Yugoslavia a late win.
It meant they would be through if Spain were to beat Northern
Ireland. If the Irish won the only way
Spain could go out is if they lost by more than 1 goal. A draw would mean Spain were definitely
through but the Irish would need a 2-2 draw to progress on goals scored.
25th
June 1982, Valencia
SPAIN (0)
0
NORTHERN IRELAND
(0) 1 (Armstrong 47)
Jennings (Arsenal);
J.Nicholl (Toronto), C.Nicholl (Southampton), McClelland (Rangers), Donaghy
(Luton); O’Neill (Norwich), McCreery (Tulsa), McIlroy (Stoke) [Cassidy
(Burnley)]; Hamilton (Burnley), Armstrong (Watford), Whiteside (Man Utd)
[Nelson (Brighton)]
Another capacity crowd in
the Mestalla expected to see the hosts cruise past Northern Ireland. But this was not the Spain of today, this was
a Spanish team racked with nerves at the pressure & expectation of hosting
the biggest tournament in world football.
But this night belonged to the Irish.
It has gone down as one of the greatest nights ever in Northern Irish
football.
Pat Jennings was at his
best as the Spanish pressed forward and frustrated them on several
occasions. The Spanish looked dangerous
from set-pieces but it was goalless at half-time. Early in the second half, Armstrong pounced
on a loose pass deep in his own half and drove into the Spanish half before
laying the ball to his right where Hamilton skinned Tendillo to get to the
bye-line. He crossed the ball into the
box and keeper, Luis Arconada, probably one of Europe’s best at the time,
inexplicably palmed the ball out to the penalty spot where Armstrong was
lurking. Instead of placing the ball in
either corner, Armstrong fired a right-foot shot under the hapless keeper and
into the net. Amazingly, the Irish were
1-0 up against Spain, in Spain.
Despite the fact this
result would see both teams go through, the Spaniards couldn’t stand the
embarrassment of losing at home and so threw everything at Jennings goal but
the Arsenal man was equal to the task.
Midway through the half, Mal Donaghy was sent-off for a 2nd
bookable offence when he lashed out at Camacho.
But despite their man advantage, Spain couldn’t break through and
Northern Ireland had pulled off a famous win.
Group 6
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
PTS
|
GD
|
Northern Ireland
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
1
|
Spain
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
0
|
Yugoslavia
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
0
|
Honduras
|
3
|
0
|
2
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
2
|
-1
|
Expanding the tournament
to 24 teams created a headache for FIFA.
How do you work out a second phase with 12 teams? In 1982 they came up with the idea of a further
4 groups containing 3 teams each. Only
the group winners would progress to a Semi-Final stage. This format, only used for this World Cup,
produced some exciting games as teams knew one win might be enough to go
through. The weakness in the 3-team
group system was that the team who didn’t play in the first game, gained an
advantage in knowing what they had to do.
Three of the opening games resulted in a positive result and each winner
of that game ended up winning their group.
In each instance the losers were in action in the next game.
Northern Ireland was
drawn in Group D along with Austria and France, who had both finished 2nd
in their groups.
28th
June 1982, Madrid
World Cup Group D
AUSTRIA 0
FRANCE 1
1st
July 1982, Madrid
AUSTRIA (0) 2 (Pezzey
50, Hintermaier 68)
NORTHERN IRELAND (1) 2
(Hamilton 27, 75)
Platt (Middlesbro);
J.Nicholl (Toronto), C.Nicholl (Southampton), McClelland (Rangers), Nelson
(Brighton); O’Neill (Norwich), McCreery (Tulsa), McIlroy (Stoke); Hamilton (Burnley),
Armstrong (Watford), Whiteside (Man Utd) [Brotherston (Blackburn)]
The Irish had not had the
best preparation for this phase of the tournament. Pat Jennings had a groin strain and there was
disruption to several training sessions.
Bingham replaced Jennings with Jim Platt. Although Platt would only be winning his 16th
cap for his country he had played over 400 games for Middlesbrough. Sammy Nelson, a 2nd half
substitute against Spain, replaced Mal Donaghy at left-back. Austria had to win the game, having just lost
to France and so they were more desperate for a goal. For the Irish, if they won they would then be
playing France in what would effectively be a Quarter-Final.
Both teams had chances
before the Irish took the lead in the 27th minute. McIlroy found Armstrong on the right, just
inside his own half, and the Watford man was able to beat two Austrian
defenders before getting to the bye-line.
His pin-point cross was met for Hamilton at the far post and the Burnley
forward headed past Koncilia to put the Irish, 1-0 up.
Early in the second half,
McClelland failed to deal with a high ball into the Irish box and the ball fell
for dangerous Austrian striker, Walter Schachner, who hit the post and Jimmy
Nicholl scrambled the ball out of play.
From the resulting corner, Prohaska found Baumeister on the edge of the
area and his low shot was turned in by Pezzey for the equaliser. The Austrians were now buzzing and a slick
passing move saw Schachner beat Platt but the goal was ruled out for offside. As the game moved towards the final 20
minutes, Austria had a free-kick 25 yards out.
The ball was played short to Hintermaier and his shot rifled past Platt
to put the Austrians in front. The Irish
now looked to be in trouble, but this side was made of sterner stuff.
Eight minutes later a
patient build-up in midfield saw Armstrong run at the defence again and his
shot from outside the area, deflected off Obermayer. Jimmy Nicholl had been charging forward to
create the overlap and he now found himself clear of the defence on the right
hand side. As Koncilia came out, Nicholl
hooked the ball to the far post where Hamilton was again on hand to head the
ball into the empty net. Now the Irish
still needed another goal to avoid having to beat the French but try as they
might they just couldn’t break the Austrians down and the game ended all
square.
4th July 1982, Madrid
World Cup, Group D
FRANCE (1)
4 (Giresse 33, 80, Rocheteau 46, 68)
NORTHERN IRELAND (0) 1 (Armstrong
75)
Jennings(Arsenal);
J.Nicholl (Toronto), C.Nicholl (Southampton), McClelland (Rangers), Donaghy
(Luton); M.O’Neill (Norwich), McCreery (Tulsa) [J.O’Neill (Leicester)], McIlroy
(Stoke); Hamilton (Burnley), Armstrong (Watford), Whiteside (Man Utd)
You could call this a
sort of Quarter-Final, although a draw would be enough for France. The French were now playing some of the best
football of the tournament, after losing their opening game to England. They put the Irish under pressure from the
whistle and should’ve made more of the chances they had, but a fit again Pat
Jennings was in fine form, saving from both Platini and Rocheteau. Then some great skill on the right from
Whiteside found O’Neill who played a one-two with Armstrong before firing past
Ettori, only to find the linesman had his flag up. Replays seemed to suggest the Irish captain
had good reason to be disappointed with that decision. Just after the half-hour and a wonderful run
from Platini saw him beat two to the get to the bye-line and cut it back where
Giresse was unmarked. The little
cultured midfielder from Bordeaux, took a touch and then shot past Jennings for
the opening goal. It was no more than
the French deserved.
At the beginning of the
second half, Tresor found Rocheteau on the left wing just inside his own
half. A brilliant turn took out Jimmy
Nicholl and the Frenchman was away and running at Chris Nicholl. As he reached the edge of the area he
switched from his right to his left and fired a low shot which beat Jennings on
his near post. Rocheteau could’ve had a
couple more before a free-kick wide on the left was passed short to
curly-haired striker and he showed a delicate touch to switch from right foot
to left then back to right as he shot past Jennings to effectively put the game
out of reach for the Irish. With fifteen
minutes to play, Armstrong found Whiteside on the left and a great piece of
wing-play saw the United forward beat Amoros and cross to the far post where
Ettori flapped at the ball and Armstrong pounced for a consolation goal.
As the Irish poured
forward in search of a miracle the French were able to pick them off with the
counter-attack. With ten minutes to go
Giresse found Tigana wide on the right and his first time cross was met excellently
by the head of Giresse and the French were through.
The fairytale was over
but what a ride it had been. The heat
seemed to have taken its toll as the Irish looked tired against the
French. But they created memories which will live long
in Ulster folklore with a front three of Hamilton, Armstrong and Whiteside who
were forever industrious and caused many problems. The boldness of their play was a particular
feature as countless times Hamilton and Armstrong were prepared to run at
defenders, and the connection between the two was particularly difficult to
defend against. In the end they were
beaten only once and by a side went onto fall a penalty kick away from reaching
the Final. Undoubtedly the highlight of
the whole affair was their victory in Valencia against the hosts. That particular goal changed Gerry
Armstrong’s career as he later spent three years at Real Mallorca and now
commentates on La Liga. Only 4 other
players scored more goals than Armstrong in the tournament as well.
Bingham lead the Irish to
another World Cup Finals four years later in Mexico when he was joined by 11 of
the squad from Spain. Here they would
meet Spain again but this time went down 1-2, and also lost to Brazil when
Josimar scored one of the goals of the tournament. Bingham would go down as the finest manager
Northern Ireland have ever had as he held his position until November
1993. Whether Ireland will ever reach
these heights again is a matter of debate but one can never take away the
achievements of 1982.
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