8 greatest moments in Irish football

#4 Jason McAteer (2001)

McAteer wheels off to celebrate his goal with the Lansdowne Road faithful

Ireland were drawn in a difficult qualifying group with Portugal and the Netherlands among their rivals. Ireland were doing well and keeping pace with the big two, managing to draw away to both their rivals, but with only the top team qualifying, second facing a playoff and third being knocked out, they still needed a positive result when the Dutch came to Lansdowne Road, Dublin.

Thankfully for the Irish, they got it as McAteer scored the only goal of the game midway through the second half to knock the Dutch out and ensure Ireland a Playoff spot. They went on to face Iran in the Playoff, winning 2-1 on aggregate over the two games before reaching the last 16 of the tournament proper in Japan and South Korea.

McAteer even starred in a pre-World Cup advertisement for Carlsberg in which he had a dream that he scored the winning goal as Ireland won the World Cup.