It was Juventus playmaker Liam Brady to whom Eoin Hand's team looked for inspiration and in this game he came up against another of Europe's most creative players in Michel Platini, then plying his trade with SaintEtienne. Just over a year earlier Brady had transferred from Arsenal to the Turin giants and he promptly picked up a Serie A winner's medal in his first season with the club under the tutelage of Giovanni Trapattoni. The Dubliner was at the height of his powers playing in the world's toughest league while the French man's star was very much on the rise with a number of Italian clubs chasing his signature.

The game started perfectly for the Irish with Philippe Mahut knocking the ball into his own net after just five minutes of play but Bruno Bellone brought the French back on level terms just three minutes later.

For the remainder of the half the Irish ran the show with Frank Stapleton and Michael Robinson finding space in the French defence to put the Irish two goals to the good.

In the second half an Irish defence made up of Lawrenson, Dave Langan, Chris Hughton and Kevin Moran held out until the 82nd minute when the elusive Platini scored to set up a nervous final few minutes. But before a packed house of 53,000 supporters Ireland held out to record a famous win.

However, as was usually the case in those pre-Gary Mackay days, the Gods did not smile on Ireland as France went on to record convincing victories in their final two games. They finished level on points with Ireland but a superior goal difference sent them through to the finals in Spain where only a defeat on penalties to West Germany prevented them from reaching the final. The line between success and failure is often a very narrow one indeed.

As for Brady, by the time the World Cup came along he knew his days with Juventus were numbered. Trapattoni was bringing in another foreign player and there was a cap on the number of non-Italians Serie A clubs were allowed to play so Brady took his boots to Genoa and signed for Sampdoria. Who was the man who replaced him at Juventus? A certain elusive French man.