John Giles was enthusiastic that the aligning of Ireland’s European Championship qualifying fixtures with that of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would have a beneficial effect on securing the release of players from their clubs for the upcoming match against Turkey. He made this point just after his Ireland side, playing in their first competitive game under his management had shocked European football by defeating the Soviet Union 3-0 on October 30th 1974.

Giles waxed lyrical about wanting the opportunity to work with the international team players on a weekly, even daily basis and hoped to have extra days for another opportunity for additional training ahead of the game against Turkey. Even things like the release of players and a day or two to work through set pieces wasn’t guaranteed in 1974.

The hero in that game, Don Givens, who celebrated his 25th cap with a hat-trick recalled being unable to get back to the team bus such were the crowds and didn’t know how to get to the team hotel in Booterstown so he hailed down a car in his muddy kit with a match ball under his arm. He was greeted with the inquiry as to whether he’d been “at the match?” by the driver.

Liam Brady, then an 18-year-old debutant remembered the flaking panelling in the Dalymount dressing room and the smell of liniment mixed with a waft of beer from the nearby club bar. The anxiety, and perhaps the odour meant that he recalled getting sick in the dressing room toilet prior to kick-off.

All of this perhaps sounds a far cry from modern international football but it was something of a dawning of a new era for Ireland. Giles had taken charge mere months earlier, had impressed in a series of friendlies, and was now player-manager leading the bid for Euro 76 qualification in a group featuring the Soviet Union, Switzerland and Turkey. Almost exactly 15 years earlier a teenaged Giles had scored on his debut in a victory over Sweden, now he was in charge on and off the pitch as Ireland took on the world’s largest nation featuring such stars as Oleg Blokhin who would win the Ballon D’Or just months later.

One of the Irish centre-backs that day, Terry Mancini, had praised Giles for his training techniques and the “tremendously professional atmosphere and attitude – as good as any team in the world”. As chance would have it, the Arsenal defender wouldn’t get to experience much more of the Ireland dressing room, a sending off for retaliating against Soviet defender Volodymyr Kaplychnyi saw his international career ended by a four-match ban.

During the game itself the 35,000 spectators were treated to scintillating, confident football by the Irish, with one commentator describing the interplay between Giles and Brady, master and student, as almost arrogant! It was claimed in reports that this was the game that brought Irish football in from the cold and gave Dalymount back its roar.

The crowd had just 23 minutes to wait for the first goal, a delightful ball in from Joe Kinnear, who excelled in marshalling Blokhin as well as joining the attack, which found the head of Givens who powered it home. Five quick passes cutting open the Soviets to give Ireland the lead. The second arrived on the half hour courtesy of the indefatigable Ray Treacy, who’s cross was flicked on by Steve Heighway to present Givens with a simple finish.

However, there was some concern two minutes later when Mancini and Kaplychnyi were sent off. Could Ireland’s 4-3-3 formation adapt to being down a centre half? Mick Martin, filled in ably, switching from midfield to defence, and Ireland managed to weather a Soviet storm in the first period of the second-half and any fears of a comeback were allayed on 70 minutes as Giles’s precise and quickly taken free found the Soviet defence asleep and Don Givens secured his hat-trick.

Through the late 60s and early 70s Irish fans had little reason to be cheerful, 50 years ago a new manager, and a shock result helped the Green army to find their voice and hope again.

This article originally appeared in the Ireland v Finland match programme in November 2024