Paul Fennessy

IRELAND’S PAST record against France does not make for especially encouraging reading ahead of tonight’s crucial Euros qualifier.

The sides have met 18 times. France have won nine, drawn five and lost four.

This record has been turning increasingly in Les Bleus’ favour in recent times.

It is just under 42 years since Ireland’s last victory in the fixture. Since then, of the eight games, France have won five and drawn three.

Dave Langan was one of the 11 players who started that last victory over the French at Lansdowne Road.

As is the case tonight, Ireland went into the match as underdogs, while knowing a win was required to keep alive any realistic hopes of qualifying from their group.

So it was an against-the-odds triumph. A Philippe Mahut own goal gave the hosts a perfect start before Bruno Bellone equalised in the ninth minute.

Frank Stapleton restored his side’s advantage in the 25th minute and Michael Robinson added a third shortly before half-time.

A Michel Platini goal seven minutes from the end set up a nervy finish but the Irish held on for a famous victory.

Langan remembers the grace and skill of Platini in particular.

“He’d always get time on the ball and you could just tell he was a world-class player,” the former right-back tells The 42. 

“But I thought we did a good job on him on the day — the game was 100 miles an hour, and it didn’t suit him. Because they like a bit of time on the ball and we got into them straightaway. And they couldn’t settle.”

It was Ireland’s last qualifier of the campaign whereas France still had two matches to play, both of which they needed to win after the loss in Dublin.

But Michel Hidalgo’s men ultimately prevailed, overcoming Netherlands 2-0 and Cyprus 4-0 to pip Ireland on goal difference and secure a spot at the tournament in Spain, where they made it all the way to the semi-finals before losing to West Germany on penalties.

Ireland, by contrast, were left to rue a campaign in which they were desperately unlucky to miss out on qualification.

“I think we would have done very well [at the World Cup] because of the team we had,” says Langan. “A lot of the teams would be frightened to play against us and obviously [going out on] goal difference was soul-destroying. But at the end of the day, we had to accept it. It is one of the biggest regrets ever. I was just distraught.”

What made the disappointment all the worse was Ireland were hindered by a couple of hugely controversial refereeing decisions.

During the reverse fixture in Paris, France earned a hard-fought 2-0 win but Langan believes it might have been different had the visitors not had what he believed was a perfectly good goal by Kevin Moran inexplicably ruled out.

More infamous was the 1-0 defeat in Belgium. There was a widespread belief that Ireland were robbed of the point they needed to qualify owing to the inept performance of Portuguese referee Raul Nazare.

At one point in the game, Frank Stapleton had a goal bizarrely ruled out despite no obvious infringement. Then in the 87th minute, a blatant Eric Gerets dive was rewarded with a free kick from which Jan Ceulemans scored on the rebound, even though Irish goalkeeper Seamus McDonagh was seemingly impeded on the goalline.

Many people, including Langan, felt what transpired that fateful night was a disgrace.

“When you get cheated out after doing so well, it’s just terrible,” he says.

“There was uproar about it but obviously nothing happened. I just felt we never got a fair crack of the whip and you have to accept that because the result was not going to change.”

Although aside from the fact that Ireland ended up not qualifying, for Langan, the win over France in 1981 was bittersweet for another reason.

During the game, he received what he describes as “a smack on the knee”. It was an injury he ultimately never fully recovered from. He was out of action for roughly 18 months and it would lead to seven different knee operations. He became depressed and at one stage was unsure if he would ever play again.

Yet remarkably, on the day of the French match, he continued on playing until the full-time whistle.

“Your adrenaline keeps you going because you’re playing for Ireland and you carry on even though it was agony, I just didn’t want to come off,” he explains.

“I tore my cartilage and ligaments as well.”

At the time, however, Langan did not realise the severity of the injury.

“I can’t remember much after the game,” he says. “We had a bit of a party in the Green Hotel.

“We had a few drinks, you’d no pain at all because a drink always takes the pain away. It just was a great night and everyone was really happy.”

Unfortunately, the sense of joy soon dissipated.

“The next morning I woke up and my knee was like a balloon, it was agony. 

“I was playing for Birmingham at the time. And [the physio] didn’t think it was that bad but it just wasn’t getting any better.

“I was a long time out because I couldn’t get it right. There was an ulcer in my knee. And they had to drill it out.”

To make matters worse, during Langan’s recuperation period, while in the gym, he cracked a vertebrae in his back while working out.

Moreover, there were less sophisticated methods of dealing with injuries in that era, when such a serious setback was much more likely to end a player’s career.

“If you get an injury now, you go straight for a scan, whereas when we played, it was ice and heat treatment,” he recalls.

“And then after a few weeks, if you weren’t right, they might send you for an X-ray, but it was totally different.”

While Langan did recover to the extent that he was able to play again for both club and country, the long-term effects were still significant.

“I was always getting hamstring injuries,” he recalls. “I’d never had a hamstring injury until I had the knee and back operations.

“It was obviously to do with the [initial] injury, I don’t know what happened. But it was just horrible. You’d play three or four games and get injured, and play another three or four [with the cycle continuing]. I just was constantly getting injured all the time.”

There was further Irish heartbreak to come for Langan. Having been very unlucky to miss out on the ’82 World Cup and worked so hard to get himself back fit, when Ireland did eventually qualify for a major tournament, Euro ’88, the defender was devastated to be left out of the squad for the finals despite playing a substantial part in the qualifying run.

Perhaps the Dubliner’s by-then extensive injury issues were a contributory factor — he would retire just a year after the Euros at the age of 32 on medical advice — while he admits he never saw eye to eye with Jack Charlton, having preferred the style of play employed by Ireland’s previous two managers, John Giles and Eoin Hand.

“John and Eoin more or less wanted the game played the same way and that was ‘keep the ball on the deck, pass it around and keep possession all the time’. Whereas with Jack he wanted the ball kicked into the corners and keep turning the other team and all that. I’d rather play Eoin and John’s way anytime. 

“I served my apprenticeship under Brian Clough and he was exactly the same as John and Eoin, the ball was always on the grass.

“I played a few times for him, but I could tell from the first few games that I wouldn’t be starting and staying much longer.

“Obviously, lots of people did enjoy it but I just didn’t.”

The English World Cup winner’s brusque manner and harsh way of dealing with unwanted players also did not endear him to Langan.

“I played against Scotland [at home] in the 0-0 draw. Then in the return match, he didn’t even speak to me and left me out of the team.

“But I knew when he took over, he said nobody would be left out of the squad and then in the next match, Uruguay at home, he left me out of the squad. 

“Then he phoned me up on the Monday night: ‘Can I get across because of injuries?’ And I came across. But I just knew, after the first squad, my days were numbered, because I obviously wasn’t his type of player.”

The Ireland team pictured before the 1981 France game. INPHO INPHO

Even post-retirement, the injuries have taken a toll on Langan’s body. He is registered disabled and now has a “new knee” following yet more operations.

He has suffered further hardship away from the football field too, including the breakdown of his marriage and serious financial difficulties that led to him putting all 26 Ireland caps and medals from his football career up for sale in 2013, having previously been forced to sell his house.

Still, Langan, who has been based in Peterborough since ending his playing career there, says he is getting by these days.

“I’ve got my state pension now. And I do a little cleaning job, three hours every day, just to top the pension up.

“It keeps me on the move. And it keeps me from getting browned off every day, just to get out of the house to another place.

“I’m living in a park home, which is similar to a caravan. It’s nice. And so I’m happy and I’m okay.”

On his general level of health, he adds: “I ache all over and I’m on lots of tablets for different things like cholesterol, all that sort of stuff.

“I’ve high blood pressure. But I’m 66, so you’ve got to expect it after that life, you know?”

Meanwhile, Langan says he won’t be tuning in tonight to see if the current Ireland side can emulate the team he was part of by beating France and ending 42 years of hurt.

“It sounds dreadful but I have not watched any football now for seven or eight years. I just fell out of love with football, nothing to do with anything.

“I just stopped watching it. I don’t even know any of the teams now. I don’t know anything about football anymore.

“I don’t know who plays for whom. I just stopped watching, I don’t know why, honestly.

“One day, I just said ‘I’ve had enough’ and was browned off. I just said ‘I’m not going to watch it anymore,’ and honestly, I’ve not watched one game.

“I used to watch Match of the Day every week. I have not watched that for about eight years now.

“Good luck to the players and all that, but I just don’t have anything to do with it now.”

Nor does Langan still keep in touch with any of his former teammates.

“I’ve not spoken to anyone in years. I’ve not seen anyone. [My former clubs] Oxford and Birmingham always invite me down for a game. They ring me up every year. But I never go. I never want to go.

“I don’t want to go back down there. I feel like I’ve had my time, that was in the ’80s, so I just want to move on.”

Langan insists, nonetheless, that his memories of football are largely positive.

“I had a good time. I made a lot of mistakes in my life. But apart from the injuries, I enjoyed the football, it was a great time.

“I’ve seen a lot of the world, met some great people and I really enjoyed it.

“The thing about it now is only when you get older, you realise how fast it goes.

“People used to say: ‘It’s a short career’. I remember when I was 19 making my debut at Derby, people said: ‘Enjoy it because it will go quickly.’

“I was thinking ‘nah,’ but God they were so right. The years flew by. It’s a very, very short career.

“And I understand the players getting well paid now and good luck to them because when you finish, you need a lot of money, [otherwise] you have to go and try to find a job.”