This article was published immediately after Ireland beat Italy in Lille in Juen 2016. Given its the anniversary of that famous match, we thought we'd have a look back at a famous night for Irish football.
We've been here before. After Shane Long fired past Manuel Neuer in Dublin back in October to get us here, Jogi Low decided to come out like a right gobshite and start complaining about Ireland's style of play.
We avoided 99 of those long balls, but the 100th long ball was just one too many.
It only made that victory sweeter. We may not play the beautiful game in the clichéd sense of the phrase, but anyone who wants to suggest that last night was anything but beauty defined, then they have a nation of quite possibly deluded Irish fans to argue with.
And much like Jogi Low back in October, Antonio Conte has delivered the kind of quotes that we really wanted to hear from him. Bitter and going against everything that we saw during the game.
Congratulations to Republic of Ireland, they were rewarded. A little more than they deserved, but rewarded nonetheless.
I saw some great responses because those who played gave everything they had. We were punished when we were on top of the game.
I don’t think we deserved to lose, a draw would have been the fairer outcome given the chances produced. Having already qualified, we had the option to make some changes and give a rest to those who put a lot in. Despite all that, I think we saw a side that has strengths and weaknesses but wants to keep scrapping until the end.
The first aim was to reach the last 16. Now we have a match against one of the favourites. Let’s not forget where we started, we mustn’t get above our station.
As no doubt many will have suggested, he'll do rather well at Chelsea with that kind of attitude. Perhaps it's a front that he's putting on. Perhaps he just didn't care about that game and he effectively let his side roll over and fall on the sword. Or maybe he really is that bitter. Either way, you're talking out of your arse Antonio.
Your best player was Lorenzo Insigne and you brought him on in the 74th minute. If that doesn't scream 'we absolutely deserved to lose that game', I don't know what does. Having said that, best of luck with Spain. We might be seeing you again later in the competition.
