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Galvin hits the turf after he was hauled down by Dasayev. ©INPHO/Billy Stickland

13 days to Euro 2012: Ireland denied a clear penalty in Russia draw

Tony Galvin was “decapitated by the goalkeeper” but the Irish were not awarded a penalty that may have taken them to the semi-finals.

IN THE GAME of football there are dubious penalties, there are stonewall penalties and there are ‘How could it not be?’ penalties.

Ireland supporters experienced the latter at Euro ’88.

Tony Galvin raced through on goal against the CSSR (Russia) in the second-half  as Ireland looked to double their 1-0 lead following Ronnie Whelan’s opener.

What followed in a frantic few seconds left a sense of frustration that has lingered long in the memory.

The Sheffield Wednesday midfielder got a vital touch on the ball but Rinat Dasayev was nowhere near it as he careened into Galvin and sent him sprawling.

Jack Charlton, speaking five years after the finals, held true to his claim that Ireland were hard done by. He said:

Tony Galvin was decapitated by the goalkeeeper. In a situation now where the goalkeeper would have been off and we would have had a penalty, no question at all.

In March of this year, Packie Bonner chatted to TheScore.ie and recalled the match against the Russians and the Irish penalty shout. He said:

People still today talk about that game as the best they have ever seen us play. We played really, really well. Tony Galvin should’ve had a penalty but that Soviet Union team were a good side. And of course they got to the final.

Ireland were eliminated in the next match when they lost out 1-o to Holland but a win over the Russians would have seen them comfortably through to the semi-finals.

Judge for yourself – did Ireland have a genuine shout for a penalty?

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