Each time our hopes fizzled out, there was always Robbie Keane
Soccer B Internationals have gone the way of the Dodo, the DeLorean motorcar and Zhivago's Nite Club in Baggot Street, Dublin, having petered out of existence. Indeed, the Republic only played a dozen such trial internationals. Only two are worth remembering.
Ireland's first ever B International, against Romania in 1957, is remembered only for the fact that - behind the scenes - Dublin's nefarious Archbishop, John Charles McQuaid, tried to stop it, determined to ban communist teams.
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