UNDER A GYPSIES CURSE? LET’S HOPE NOT!     -    BRIAN KENNEDY

Everybody loves an underdog. 99 per cent of the time the minnows in these match-ups last about 2 minutes before being hammered 6-0 at home but tonight (with all due respect to Bohemians) I’m sure there are several Dublin clubs hoping the Blues can shock the Gypsies and bring home our third ever League Cup. My old pal Glenn Cronin, whom I’ve become good friends with since his Exeter City days, knows all about shocks as he was part of the Devon club’s 0-0 draw as a non-league side at Old Trafford in 2005, and will be lining up against Waterford tonight. Hopefully I’ll be annoying him after the game! If we are to win against the odds, we’ll have to follow in these team’s footsteps.

FA CUP 3rd ROUND 1972 – HEREFORD UTD 2-1 NEWCASTLE

My favourite giant-killing of all time. Hereford were a Southern League side when they took on First Division (that’s Premiership to you young chaps) Newcastle United in the third round of the 1972 cup competition. The minnows had already stunned the Geordies by holding them to a 2-2 draw at St James Park; however the replay would be remembered for more for obvious reasons. Played on a pitch of mud and not one blade of grass, the Magpies still took the lead as late as the 82nd minute when barrel-chested Malcolm McDonald headed United in front. Then, well you know what happened then! Three minutes later 30 year old Ronnie Radford unleashed an exocet missile that travelled at  least 587 miles an hour and tore the net off the visiting goal (had there been no net it’s safe to say at least ten people would have been killed by the speed the ball was travelling) to level the scores. Poor old Ricky George always gets overlooked and he’s the one actually scored the winner for Hereford in extra time!

FIFA WORLD CUP 1950

A tournament full of shocks with India qualifying (then withdrawing), and hosts Brazil losing 2-1 in the final to Uruguay (in front of 200,000 people), but this tournament will always be remembered for the USA’s astonishing 1-0 win over a star studded English team. Hilarious.

FA CUP FINAL 1973 – LEEDS UNITED 0-1 SUNDERLAND

The dirty Leeds United side of the early seventies got their comeuppance when rank outsiders Sunderland beat them with an Ian Porterfield goal and a Jim Montgomery save that gets even more astonishing every time it’s told (the latest version was that he actually lost his arms in a mining accident and  the ones he had were artificial at Wembley). A victory for football and proof that kicking your way to victory doesn’t always work.

FA CUP FINAL 1988 - LIVERPOOL 0-1 WIMBLEDON

Putting a cap on a meteoric rise from the depths of non-league football, Wimbledon’s self proclaimed “Crazy Gang” really did shock the footballing world when they hilariously beat Kenny Daglish’s Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup final. Beardsley had a goal chalked off for nothing, Lawrie Sanchez notched from a set piece and John Aldridge famously has the honour of missing the first penalty in an FA Cup final.

EUROPEAN FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP, 1992:

Set in Sweden, the Danish team who had entered only as a reserve from the looming Yugoslav wars amazingly went on to win the tournament in real Roy Of The Rovers squash-buckling fashion – beating the defending European Champions, Holland, in the semi finals and then defeating the reigning World Champions, Germany, 2-0 in the final. Even more amazing in that final was the fact John Jensen not only managed a shot on target but actually scored with it.

FIFA WORLD CUP, 2002:

The Senegalese team beat France, the reigning World Cup champions in the opening game. The French went on to make a total balls of their group stage and went out after three games. The South Korean team finished with their best ever placing in World Cup history to date - taking 4th place and knocking Italy out along the way (with some help from a referee with a brown envelope in his back pocket and the promise of a few ladies of the night back in his hotel room. Allegedly).

In  EURO 2004 , Greece, which some bookies had at odds 0f 350-1 to win at the start of the tournament, defeated the hosts Portugal in their opening match, also the defending champions France, then favourites Czech Republic in the semi-finals, and Portugal again in the final, to win the trophy in probably the most unexpected victory in football history. Once again England lost in a penalty shoot out (their 97th one on the trot).

FA CUP 3rd ROUND 1989 - SUTTON UNITED 2-1 COVENTRY CITY

Two years previously a Keith Houchen header had completed a fairytale ending to the 1987 Cup Final for Coventry with a thrilling 3-2 win over Spurs. However playing in the middle of nowhere , with just 4,000 spectators against a team eight divisions lower, the lowly Londoners (with goals from Tony Rains & Matthew Hanlon) shocked a City team that included David Speedie, Cyril Regis (who was probably 62 at the time) and Steve (my nose has saved more goals than my hands) Ogrizovic. Sutton were unlucky in the 4th round – holding out for for 25 minutes…. before being beaten 8-0 by Norwich.

FA CUP 3rd ROUND 1984 – BOUREMOUTH 2-0 MANCHESTER UTD

Old wheeler-dealer, second-hand car type Harry Redknapp masterminded a superb two goal victory over Ron Atkinson’s red devils in the shock of the 1984 cup tournament. To use the word “shock” actually is a bit much considering United were awful for about two decades before Mark Robins saved Alex Ferguson’s head in 1989 and the rest is history.