THE GAMES THAT CHANGED PAUL MCGRATH’S LIFE

Republic of Ireland 1 Italy 2 February 5, 1985 Friendly

“My first cap for Ireland was a huge moment in my life. Italy were the world champions, Paolo Rossi was playing for them and it was a full house at Dalymount Park in Dublin, with people sitting up on the roofs. I won’t say thank God that Mark Lawrenson got injured, but I came on for him. To be on the same pitch as Liam Brady was a real honour – he’s still my favourite player. My Ireland debut brought me out of my shell as a player.”

Everton 0 Manchester United 1

May 18, 1985 FA Cup Final

“This was a strange match for me, because I got my best friend Kevin Moran sent off with a horrific pass. He was the first player ever to be sent off in an FA Cup final. I don’t think he spoke to me for about a month afterwards, but we laugh about it nowadays. Thankfully, another of my best mates, Norman Whiteside, got me out of the mire by scoring one of the best goals I’ve ever seen at Wembley. I found all of the celebrations at the end a bit awkward – when lads started bouncing around, I was never one to join in - but it was an amazing feeling to win an FA Cup for Manchester United.”

Rep of Ireland 0 Romania 0 (5-4p)

June 25, 1990 World Cup

“This was Ireland’s first World Cup, and we played against a young man called Gheorghe Hagi in the last 16. I’d come up against Diego Maradona and thought I’d never see another footballer like that, but Hagi was fantastic. When it went to penalties, I turned my back. I couldn’t even watch – when David O’leary scored the winning penalty, I heard the crowd and just started running. We met the Pope in Rome after that game, but didn’t realise the service would take so long and Jack Charlton nodded off. When he woke up, the Pope was doing the blessing. He thought the Pope was waving at him, so he waved back!”

Aston Villa 3 Manchester United 1

March 27, 1994 League Cup Final

“I couldn’t sleep before this match. I had a virus in my shoulder, but this was one game I didn’t want to miss. Dalian Atkinson, a friend of mine who has gone now, scored the first goal and we went on to win 3-1, which was a bit of an upset. I was playing against Mark Hughes and Ryan Giggs that day and was always quite nervous against Giggs, because of the pace of the kid. I loved being involved in that game. I was going to quit football in 1989, so the seasons I got after that were a bonus. It validated that I shouldn’t have retired, and I enjoyed every single season at Aston Villa.”