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Fianna Fáil sweeps to biggest win

Irish celbrate historic victory

From Peter Byrne and Kevin Myers in Stuttgart

THE Republic of Ireland soccer team was last night celebrating its most important win in more than 60 years in international competition after defeating England one-nil at the start of its European championship programme in Stuttgart.

Now two points from a maximum of four in the remaining games against the Soviet Union and the Netherlands may suffice to qualify the Irish team for the semi-final stages next week.

The winning goal was scored after only six minutes by Ray Houghton and a combination of disciplined defence and occasional good fortune enabled the Irish to protect their advantage.

The Irish manager Jack Charlton described what he called "the longest 84 minutes I've ever sat through", after Houghton headed what was to prove the sixth-minute winner.

Charlton said: "I think we got away with a lot of things we perhaps shouldn't , and it sometime makes you wonder if someone up there likes you. I always felt that we had the sort of game to beat England, but when I saw the weather I didn't think it would suit us. We like to put players under pressure, to hustle them, to close them down, and it requires a high work rate. I was afraid they'd stifle out there under the heat.

"But having scored early on, we had to sit back and hope we could make the break for the second. We hit the bar once and had one cross which might have gone in had it connected.".

Ireland's goalkeeper Pat Bonner praised the Irish supporters for lifting them at the end when they were flagging. The England manager Bobby Robson singled out Bonner for special praise, saying he was in "inspired" form.

From Monday, June 13, 1988