Republic Of Ireland's 5 Most Memorable Moments

1. Robbie Keane's Goal vs Germany, World Cup 2002

5th June 2002. Kashima, Japan. Group Stages To call Ireland's World Cup campaign in 2002 eventful would be a massive understatement. After beating out Holland for qualification in Group C, Ireland were poised for a World Cup group against Germany, Cameroon and Saudi Arabia. Before the tournament even began, things took a turn for the worse after a massively public fall out between team captain Roy Keane and manager Mick McCarthy. Keane had always perceived the FAI's professionalism to be nonexistent and was no stranger to challenging anything he saw as not good enough. Saipan was the last straw, with Keane unhappy about numerous things that he saw as detrimental to the team's progress in the tournament. Among his issues were that the training facilities were not up to scratch, the team had to travel in second class (while Irish officials travelled in luxury) and to top it all off, he had serious issues with Mick McCarthy's competence as manager. In his book, "As I See It," Roy stated that the Irish team were forced to eat cheese sandwiches before a vital qualifier because they couldn't get pasta, which they were supposed to be eating. What resulted was a major blow to the Irish team, in that captain Keane walked out of Saipan when the facilities and expectations of those around him failed to meet his standards. The following Media involvement made things even worse, with Keane failing to return to the squad for the World Cup, being replaced as captain by Steve Staunton. An FAI commissioned report agreed with most of Keane's criticisms, but the loss of the team's key player was maybe a bigger disadvantage to the team than their shoddy pre tournament preparations. When Group E came around, Ireland had to forget all the distractions and get the job done on the pitch. Luckily for them, they shared the group with the tournaments eventual worst team Saudi Arabia who lost all three games, scoring no goals and conceding twelve, three of which came against Ireland. After drawing with Cameroon, a result against Germany in their penultimate group game was needed to keep qualification alive. Miroslav Klose scored in the first half, with Oliver Kahn proving too good for Ireland's attempts on goal. Not surprisingly, Kahn went on to win player of the tournament, something that not many keepers had accomplished before. As time approached 90 minutes, things looked all but over, but last minute hope appeared in 3 minutes of added on time. Kinsella fired the ball into Niall Quinn, who got the ball to Keane bursting into the box. Robbie fired the ball into the back of the German net, as the players and staff shared a mixture of happiness and disbelief that has become common with major Irish results. Keane's goal was the first of only two goals Kahn conceded in the tournament, the other being against Ronaldo in the final. The point in Kashima edged them ahead of Cameroon and earned a Round of 16 game with Spain in which they again put in an impressive showing before disappointingly losing on penalties.