Why We All Owe Steve Staunton An Apology

Following Ireland's 2-1 hammering of San Marino in February 2007, Steve Staunton had to face an ungrateful media pack and justify the result.

During the course of his edgy press conference performance, he tried to reassure the unimpressed journalists by telling them 'we're usually strong in March'.

The comments were heavily lampooned, most notably on the usually staid Late Late Show, where they had a UK body language expert on to discuss public figures and bodily giveaways. But the crowd couldn't stop laughing at Staunton calming the press corps by telling them Ireland are usually strong in March when the clip was played.

As, it happened Ireland did have a good March in 2007. They beat both Wales and Slovakia 1-0 in Croke Park. Was his claim justified or was it ludicrous? After all, in England there is discussion about the fact that the English team always seem to be in good shape around autumn and then in a state of disarray around May and June (that'd be around the time of the World Cup).

Well, it turns out that the answer is a resounding... kind of.

Ireland do have a decent record in the month of March and haven't lost in the month in over three decades. By contrast, Ireland have lost numerous matches in September and October.

However, this comes with the proviso that there are more games in those months, with matches played in September in both odd and even years.

Graphic and full list of results back to 1970 below.