DAYLIGHT ROBBERY

Eoin Hand led one of the greatest ever Ireland teams but a dodgy ref cheated him out of spot at 82 World Cup

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and they are chronicled in a fascinating new book, Shattered Dreams: Sliding Doors, The Republic of Ireland’s 1982 World Cup qualifying campaign.

The focus is on what might have been and with good reason because twice in that qualification campaign, Ireland were victims of refereeing incompetence, away to France, firstly, then to Belgium.

The upshot is those two teams made it to the finals, France going as far as semi finals, Belgium topping their group ahead of the reigning world champions.

And then there was Ireland, who defeated reigning World Cup finalists Holland at home, drawing with them away, prior to outplaying France at Lansdowne Road.

"The cruel thing is that both England and Northern Ireland made it through even though they were in easier groups and each team accumulated one point fewer than we did," says the author, Paul Little.

"There's a website where you can see footage of the entire games and you can see the quality of football Ireland played under Hand. For sure, there were times when it was pragmatic, but it was possession-based tactics which allowed us to go toe to toe with three great teams.

"Remember the Belgians had reached the final of the 1980 European Championships, Holland the final of the '78 World Cup, whereas France went on to win Euro 84.