Ray Houghton on that goal against Italy 30 years ago

For younger fans of Irish men’s football, it can be hard to believe there was ever a time when things were good, when the team could line up against the best and fans could reasonably expect that they wouldn’t be humiliated. As an Ireland-free Euro 2024 serves us up goal fest after goal fest, Oliver Callan decided the long-suffering fans of the team that’s been managerless for seven long months deserved some cheer. Enter Ray Houghton to talk about the World Cup goal that beat the Italians in Giants Stadium in New York 30 years ago. And Oliver’s first question to him was whether or not, when he’s in Ireland, he buys his own drinks.

“Very rarely, I’ve got to be honest with you. It’s the only place I get recognised now, I’m that old, people don’t know who you are. I’m over in Germany at the moment and there’s a few Scottish fans that have recognised me, but mostly when I go to Ireland, it’s all right, it’s where people recognise you the most obviously because of what happened in the past, yeah.”

That strike against Italy on 18 June 1994 is indelibly marked in the memories of so many Irish fans, but what about the goal scorer himself? How clear in his mind are the events of that sunny day?

“Do you know, some days it’s like it happened yesterday and others it was a lifetime ago. Yeah. I mean, it is something I will never, ever forget. I mean I was very fortunate that I wasn’t a prolific goal scorer with Ireland, but I scored a couple of important goals.”

He certainly did. The goal against England at Euro 88 had already cemented Ray in the Irish football hall of fame and the goal at the 1994 World Cup meant his legendary footballer status reached new heights. But, he told Oliver, he almost didn’t play in the match against Italy:

“There was a lot of doubt about me playing in that game because in the build-up I wasn’t Jack’s favourite at that particular time, you know, Jason McAteer had got ahead of me in the friendlies. But I got myself fit, really knuckled down, got everything right and then Jack gave me the nod in the game and said, ‘Go ahead, go and play.’”

And play he did. 72,000 spectators – mostly Irish, judging by the colour and the noise – watched as, in the 11th minute, the ball came out to one Ray Houghton:

“And you know, I can still relive the moment when Baresi heads it out, I chest it down, I’m looking to pass the ball to the left to Steve Staunton, but unfortunately Steve was marked. And it was one of those moments, when it just goes through your head, and I thought, ‘Just hit it and see what happens.’ And the emotions are different, so different when you hit it, it’s like, my first thought was, ‘It’s going over the bar,’ my second thought was, ‘The keeper’s going to save it,’ and the third one – and the least probable one – was, ‘It’s going to go in.’ And then when it hit the back of the net, I was off and running.”

The signature tumble that Ray performed after scoring the goal was something that he’d never done before – but he didn’t even realise he’d done it until after the game:

“People were reminding me afterwards. I didn’t remember doing it and the press afterwards, the media were saying to me, ‘Why did you do the forward roll?’ I was looking at them and I was, ‘What are you talking about? I just stuck my hand up, that’s my normal goal celebration.’ I don’t remember doing it, but I do remember running to my family and your loved ones, you know, the ones who’ve supported you through tough times, they were there for me, but I couldn’t get anywhere near them because Roy Keane and Steve Staunton and Terry Phelan jumped on top of me and I couldn’t move.”

Ireland had, of course, been knocked out of the 1990 World Cup quarter finals by Italy, but Ray doesn’t see the 1994 victory as revenge, just a good step to helping the team progress to the knockout stages of the competition. Yes kids, as you watch Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham strut their stuff in Germany, it’s worth remembering that once upon a time Ireland played in consecutive World Cups and did well enough to get out of their group and, well, gave us all something to smile about. And Ray Houghton was the cause of some of the biggest of those smiles.

You can hear Oliver’s full conversation with Ray by clicking above.