Mexican stand-off - May, 1996
It was the dawn of a new era. Mick McCarthy got the nod ahead of Kevin Moran to take over from Jack Charlton and soon into his tenure he took a youthful Irish panel to New Jersey for the US Cup. McCarthy threw gunslingers like Mark Kennedy, Alan Moore, Keith O'Neill and Gary Breen into the fray and they all shone, slipping to a 2-1 loss in the first game against the host nation before impressing in a 2-2 draw against Mexico. That contest is memorable for the bizarre performance of one Raul Dominguez, the American referee who drove both teams to the point of despair with an eccentric, card-littered showing. In a ratty affair, Liam Daish was sent off after getting a second yellow for time wasting; a decision which prompted outrage from McCarthy and even the genial Niall Quinn, both looking on from the dugout and both subsequently sent to the stands themselves. Packie Bonner made his final start between the sticks for his country that day. The Donegal man then replaced Shay Given for the last five minutes of the Bolivia clash, a 3-0 Irish win, the first under McCarthy's reign.
A lousy decision cost Ireland - June, 2000
Four years later McCarthy brought another squad to the States for the US Cup in what would prove to be the final edition of the tournament. After again drawing 2-2 with Mexico, Dominic Foley (a 46th-minute substitute for Robbie Keane), fired the Boys in Green ahead against the US. The likes of Dean Kiely, Stephen Carr, Richard Dunne, Jason McAteer and Kevin Kilbane all lined out in a strong team and a win would have captured the tournament for Ireland, but Ante Razov levelled it from what looked like an offside position, and conspiracy theories abounded when the lights cut out three minutes later. Ten minutes after that the bulbs warmed up and the game was completed but it left a sour taste. "A lousy decision took the momentum away from us," McCarthy said afterwards.
Joey goes to America - May, 2007
Joey Lapira. Remember the name? In many ways the then 20-year-old Notre Dame Fighting Irish student has become synonymous with Steve Staunton’s disastrous reign. With his squad ravaged by injuries back in the summer of 2007, Staunton plucked the long-haired defender from total obscurity – he was the first amateur to play for the Republic of Ireland senior side since Bohs man Willie Browne in 1964 – and he won what would be his sole Irish cap in a 1-1 draw against Ecuador in New York. Shane Long scored his first international goal in another 1-1 draw, with Bolivia, in front of a paltry attendance at Boston's Gillette Stadium. An end-of-season jaunt it may have been, but Staunton was still under immense pressure and he wouldn't last much longer. His team had required an injury-time Stephen Ireland goal to squeeze past San Marino in the February and by the following October he'd be gone after failing to make Euro 2008. Nine of the players who featured in America never wore the shirt again.
Spain reign towards end of the Trap - June, 2013
Anyone facing Spain in 2013 was on a hiding to nothing, but Giovanni Trapattoni's men fared quite well in New York, a 2-0 defeat deemed respectable against the finest side on the planet. It came a year after the chastening 4-0 runaround in Poland that splattered the Euro 2012 bubble and, though the end was coming for Trap, this was no low point. Roberto Soldado and Juan Mata struck in the second half for the imperious Spaniards - and Sean St Ledger had an 81st-minute goal ruled out for offside that would have levelled it. All in all it was job done at Yankee Stadium: don't get completely thumped. The writing was on the wall for Trap nonetheless. He was shown the door three months later.
Sending off the Portuguese - June, 2014
Martin O'Neill's men were reduced to cannon fodder three years ago on the eve of the World Cup in Brazil. Cristiano Ronaldo had been carrying a niggling injury but a 65-minute stroll through a disjointed Irish side did wonders for his country's morale. Portugal cruised to a 5-1 win. Four days previously, Robbie Keane missed a penalty in a 1-1 draw against 10-man Costa Rica. Kevin Doyle headed the Irish ahead before Celso Borges equalised, but both Ireland's opponents in Philadelphia had bigger fish to fry. They headed off to Rio dreaming big; O'Neill was left to analyse if what he had at his disposal would be enough to get him to the Euros in France two years later. It was.
