Italia '90 & all that: Savoy (Cork) remembers the 21st Anniversary of Ireland's greatest EVER party:

Irish players celebrate scoring against the Oldest Enemy

To mark the 21st anniversary of the Republic of Ireland's first ever appearance at the FIFA World Cup: the Savoy, Patrick Street, Cork City are hosting a special commemoration night. This event will take place on Saturday, 19th March next. Doors open at 10p.m. Tickets: €10.

"YES WE'RE THERE!" - Ireland reach 1990 Quarter Final

There will be many giveaways on the night and highlights of all the key moments from the tournament. There will also be special archive footage of the famous penalty shoot-out (against Romania) which saw Ireland reach the Quarter-Finals.

LEGEND:   Paul McGrath

Any Irish person lucky enough to remember 1990 will remember that tournament as arguably THE happiest time ever in the nation's history. Famous sports journalist Con Houlihan quipped: "I missed the 1990 World Cup; I went to Italy!"

1.5 million people throng streets to welcome team home

The fact is that an event like the 1990 World Cup could never happen in Ireland again. It was such a special time in the country with the build-up (i.e. qualification) for the event lasting almost two years...the party afterwards lasted almost as long.
The fact that Ireland was in the midst of a terrible recession at the time (with unemployment peaking at 18% - far worse than today) was also an important social aspect of the time. The people of Ireland got on board with their team and shared the highs and lows of the time together. Goldman Sachs Bankers in fact have presented a thesis stating (and I suspect that it has some accuracy) that the success of the "Celtic Tiger" economy in the 1990's can be partly attributed to the success of the Irish football team in the late '80s and early '90s. This sounds far fetched, but the thesis needs to be seen!
Anyway, for any Irish person wishing to remember a very special time; the night of Saturday 19th March promises to be a very special one indeed.