A regular presence in continental competition in the years after, Rovers won a first European tie at the seventh time of asking in the 1966-67 Cup Winners’ Cup when they beat Spora Luxembourg 4-1 both home and away to set up a clash with giants Bayern Munich and their vaunted trio of Gerd Muller, Sepp Maier and Franz Beckenbauer.
With Liam Tuohy, who had been in the team against Manchester United nine years earlier, acting as player-manager, Rovers drew 1-1 in Dublin before coming from two behind in Munich to level the game at 2-2 and late in the second half stood to go through on away goals.
An 86th-minute goal from Muller, however, denied them what would have been a historic triumph while the German side eventually went on to win the competition.
Ties against Celtic and Juventus, as well as a friendly against Real Madrid that featured Cristiano’s Ronaldo first time in the white jersey, provided more memorable moments down the years.
More recently, reward for becoming the first Irish side to make the Europa League group stages in 2011-12 was a pairing with Chelsea’s London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
Goalkeeper Richard Brush had been out of football after suffering a wrist injury with previous club Sligo Rovers when he got the call to join the Hoops’ European charge that season.
“I was going from being without a club to being thrown into Shamrock Rovers in the title race and at that stage in the Champions League qualifiers. I went from not having a club straight into the middle of this massive juggernaut of a run,” he said.
“It was going into the unknown after a long injury and then being thrown into what was the biggest achievement in Irish football at the time.
“I remember the texts going round, sort of like, ‘are you taking the mick, we’ve got Spurs?’ It was huge for us.”
Playing their first competitive game against English opposition since that trip to Old Trafford 54 years prior, Brush was in inspired form to deny Jermain Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko before Stephen Rice put the visitors into a shock lead.
Spurs, though, turned the game with three goals in six second-half minutes.
The return fixture in Dublin was a more straightforward affair for the star-studded Premiership side who won 4-0 but provided Brush, who was once Joe Hart’s back-up at Shrewsbury Town, with an unusual claim to fame when he conceded the first of Harry Kane’s record 280 goals for Spurs.
“His first goal, for him that is obviously a huge thing,” said Brush.
“As silly as it sounds it’s a memory for me too. For that to be his first goal and then gone on to have the career that he’s had, it’s nice to be remembered in some weird way.”
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Publish date : 2024-12-18 08:13:00
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