It was 28 years ago today that Roy Keane scored his first goal in a Republic of Ireland jersey.
On a cold November evening at Windsor Park in 1994, Keane got the second goal of the evening as further strikes from Andy Townsend, John Aldridge and John Sheridan gave Jack Charlton's men a comfortable 4-0 over Northern Ireland.
The win continued Ireland's perfect start to Euro '96 qualifying. Three games in, and Ireland had won all three, scored 11 goals and conceded zero.
Nobody knew it at the time, but this was probably one of the last big wins of the Jack Charlton era.
The reverse fixture the following March saw Ireland draw with the North 1-1 at Lansdowne Road. Iain Dowie cancelled out Niall Quinn's opener to bring Ireland's 100% start to an end.
A famous win over Portugal came a month later. But after that success at Lansdowne Road, Ireland proceeded to win only one more competitive game with Charlton in charge.
A damaging 0-0 draw to Lichtenstein in June 1995 made Ireland's task of topping the group more difficult. A 2-1 win over Latvia came after a heavy loss to Austria.
On the final matchday of the campaign, Ireland travelled to Lisbon knowing only win would would secure passage to the European Championships. But Portugal blew Ireland away and won 3-0.
With 17 points from 10 games, Ireland headed to the play-offs.
They met Holland in a famous play-off game at Anfield. In front of 40,000 fans, a Patrick Kluivert double sent the Dutch to the Euros the following summer in England.
Jack Charlton never managed Ireland again. Mick McCarthy became manager soon after and although he led the team to the 2002 World Cup, Ireland had to wait another 10 years before they played in another European Championship.
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