8 greatest moments in Irish football

#1 Robbie Brady (2016)

Brady gets away from Leonardo Bonucci to head home Ireland's late winner

Ireland needed an unlikely win against Italy, who had won their first two games, to reach the last sixteen, but they were struggling to break the Italians down as the game entered the final minutes. Fortunately for Ireland, they never gave up and kept pushing forward, eventually getting the all-important goal through a Brady header with just minutes to spare.

The defence was able to keep the Italians out for the remaining minutes to spark off some jubilant celebrations in the Irish end of the stadium. Brady went on to repeat the trick a few days later when he gave Ireland an early lead from the penalty spot over hosts France but the French came back thanks to two second-half goals from Antoine Griezmann to send the Irish home in the last 16.

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Can James McClean continue his great form for Ireland against Denmark?

Will a new hero be born this week as Ireland take on the Danes for a spot in the World Cup for the first time since 2002?

It will be a big ask for the Irish, but if anyone is going to do it, perhaps the romantic story would be a James McClean goal winning the tie as the Derry man has been the key player for Martin O'Neill's side that managed to finish second in their group ahead of Wales and Austria.

McClean has scored four goals so far in this campaign with all of them being crucial. He scored two in a 3-1 win away to Moldova and also scored the only goals in 1-0 away wins against Austria and Wales which were ultimately the difference as Ireland nicked the second spot ahead of their rivals.