SATURDAY, June 18, 1994.

The venue: Giants Stadium, New York.

The occasion: Republic of Ireland v Italy in the opening match of Group E of the World Cup.

The outcome: Ireland 1, Italy 0 -- one of the greatest results in our soccer history.

Can the Boys of 2009 defy all the odds and topple their modern-day counterparts in Bari on Wednesday?

It's a tall order, but surely no bigger a task than that faced by Jack Charlton's team on that broiling New York occasion 15 years ago.

This is the story of an epic match in the words of the men who made history by becoming the first Republic team to beat one of soccer's giant nations.

Team announcements

Jack Charlton has injury problems that rule out Kevin Moran, and Tony Cascarino. His options up front are limited by the refusal of Manchester City chairman Francis Lee to allow Niall Quinn to join the Irish squad after missing most of the season with a cruciate ligament injury.

Roy Keane has been struggling with a groin strain that made him doubtful during the week but he is in the side.

Paul McGrath has a shoulder injury caused by a virus. It means his left arm is virtually useless but no way is he missing the match.

Phil Babb makes his competitive debut alongside McGrath in the centre of defence. Tommy Coyne of Motherwell will play up front as the lone striker.

Team: Bonner (Celtic); Irwin (Man Utd), McGrath (Aston Villa), Babb (Coventry), Phelan (Man City); Houghton (Aston Villa), Keane (Man Utd), (captain), Sheridan (Sheffield Wed), Townsend (Aston Villa), Staunton (Aston Villa); Coyne (Motherwell).

Italy manager Arrigo Sacchi's team was backboned by six of the AC Milan team which had won the European Cup (now Champions League) a month previously.

Team: Pagliuca (Sampdoria); Tassoti (AC Milan), Costacurta (AC Milan), Baresi (AC Milan, captain), Maldini (AC Milan); Donadoni (AC Milan), Dino Baggio (Juventus), Albertini (AC Milan), Evani (Sampdoria); Roberto Baggio (Juventus), Signori (Lazio). (Roberto and Dino Baggio are not related).

Referee: Mario Van Der Ende (Holland).

Attendance: 73,511. Kick-off scheduled for 4.0 (local), 9.0 (Irish).

3.0: Heat wave in New York. 95-100 degrees. Charlton keeps his men in the dressing room. No wasting energy outside. Team gets ready in white strip.

3.45: Out they go into the tunnel. Then panic. FIFA official orders change of strip, as Italians already in white.

Andy Townsend: "Pandemonium in the dressing room. After one and a half hours sitting twiddling our thumbs, we've one and a half minutes to strip and change our kit."

Phil Babb: "We're all changing really quick and cursing and yelling. It was frantic.

Denis Irwin: "It was a scramble. I think if you look at the official photograph, you'll see Terry Phelan is missing. He was back in the dressing room changing his socks."

The Irish took over the Stadium, with an estimated 43,000 thronging the multi-tiered stadium.

Andy Townsend: "Incredibly, as I gaze around the ground, I see that the majority of flags and banners are ours."

Phil Babb: "The stands just go up,and up, and up and everywhere there was green, white and orange."

Roy Keane: "As soon as we went out and the roars hit us, it was like playing at Lansdowne Road."

Jack Charlton: "I'm worried about getting enough water to the lads."

Denis Irwin: "I don't think you ever get used to playing in heat like that. For an Irish team, they were the worst conditions we could have been playing in."

Roy Keane: "Giants Stadium was a furnace. I'd never experienced humidity like this. it was hard to breathe, never mind run.

Irish skipper Townsend wins the toss.

5 mins -- Andy Townsend: "The first five

minutes are hell. In fact, I spent the first 20 minutes just trying to get my legs going."

10 mins: Keane takes a knock but picks himself up and carries on, albeit with a slight limp.

11 mins: GOOOOOALLLLL!

Irwin puts up a ball but as Costacurta goes to clear, he is under pressure by Coyne. It falls to Baresi, but the Italian's weak header gives possession to Houghton.

Ray Houghton: "Kevin Moran had said to me in practice that I should gamble a bit more by getting up to support Tommy Coyne.

"When I chested the ball down, I was looking to play the ball to Steve Staunton, but the full-back had him covered."

Steve Staunton: "I was on the outside of him, out left. Nine times out of ten, he would have played me in there. I'm glad he didn't."

Ray Houghton: "I thought the 'keeper was going to come at me, but he didn't. That left me some room and I thought 'why not?' As the ball hopped up, I decided to shoot. I don't favour my left foot, but I caught it just right and it dipped over the goalkeeper. He must have thought it was going over, but it went in."

This is only Houghton's fifth goal in 59 appearances, but how well he times it!

20 mins: Roberto Baggio, always a huge threat, breaks through but is cemented by McGrath.

Denis Irwin: "Big Paul was unbelievably good that day."

30 minutes: Terry Phelan is booked for a late tackle on Evani.

Terry Phelan: "It was just one of those things that happen when the adrenaline is pumping."

41 minutes: Chance for Townsend.

Andy Townsend: "Stan whips a great cross towards me in the box, but my first touch is poor and the ball drops behind me. I spin and try to connect with my weaker right. Pagliuca easily saves.

Every chance Packie Bonner gets, he holds on to the ball before releasing it to try and give the outfield players a break.

The Irish have survived the probings of the Italians, but in the steaming heat it was been hard work.

Denis Irwin: "Our ball retention wasn't great but we were difficult to break down."

Packie Bonner: "The ref told me not to hold on to the ball for so long because he regarded it as time wasting. It was a friendly enough warning, but a warning."

Jack Charlton: "They're getting frustrated, running out of ideas. Keep doing what you're doing."

Denis Irwin: "We just grabbed cold towels and tried to cool down. Guys were lying down on the tiled floor and trying to drink plenty of water."

Andy Townsend: "We wait for a fresh shirt, a dry pair of shorts -- but we've forgotten the problem with the kit. Having packed a double set of white, Charlie (O'Leary, the kit-man), never for one minute expected we'd be running out in green.

"We take the shirts, wring them out, slip them on. If you've ever had occasion to use wet swimming trunks at the beach, you'll know a little how that feels."

No subs for Ireland. Italy bring on Massaro for Evani and raise the pace in the second half.

Roy Keane: "In the second half Italy got their act together for 25 minutes. It was backs-to-the-wall. I put myself in front of the back four, paying special attention to Roberto Baggio, who was dropping off his markers."

50 minutes: Tommy Coyne goes down with a head injury. He is treated on the pitch but the ref books him for time-wasting!

52 minutes: Scare for the Irish. Phil Babb dives in on Dino Baggio. The Italians howl for a penalty.

Phil Babb: "I had half a yard on him and won the ball, and the next thing he's caught up in my legs and he's taken a dive, and the crowd has gone 'Ooooooh.'

"I'm sitting on the ground waiting to hear the worst, and then the ref just signals a corner. After that I knew the day would be all right."

57 mins: Dino Baggio halted again, this time by Denis Irwin.

Denis Irwin: "I can't really remember much about that. You make so many tackles over the years and it's hard to remember them all.

64 mins: Bonner makes a great save from Signori. It's not unlike the angle from which Donadoni fired in that crucial shot in 1990, which Packie parried, but which was blasted into the net by Toto Schillaci.

Packie Bonner: "I saw Signori cutting inside for a shot and cut down the angles. He hit it really hard, but I got a good block on it and this time it favoured me. I was owed that from four years previously."

66 mins: Houghton gets a chance for a second goal. He hits it low and hard, but Pagliuca dives to save.

67 mins: Jack Charlton orders an Irish substitution. Jason McAteer, on his 23rd birthday, comes on for Houghton. The older man is not pleased.

Ray Houghton: "I was disappointed to come off. I thought I'd done well. I'd scored the goal, nearly scored another. Had I stayed on, I might have scored again, but that's one of those things. He's the manager."

69 mins: McAteer nutmegs Roberto Baggio.

Jason McAteer: "Once I was in there tackling, the Italians looked like normal beings. When I nipped by Baggio, that made me feel I was worth 18 million, just like him."

71 minutes: Glorious opportunity for John Sheridan. Keane breaks down the right wing and crosses for the Sheffield Wednesday player. He strikes the ball high and it rebounds off the crossbar. A real let-off for Italy.

John Sheridan: "I should have put that one away. I had all night to do it, but I sliced the shot and hit the bar when I should have buried it."

81 mins: Third Irish booking -- this time Denis Irwin for a late tackle on Massaro.

Denis Irwin: "It didn't worry me. You can't let that kind of thing bother you."

83 mins: Sacchi makes a second subsitution, replacing Signori with Berti.

89 mins: Late sub for Ireland, as John Aldridge (Tranmere) comes on for the exhausted Tommy Coyne.

90 mins: Ref doesn't blow the whistle. His previous warnings about time-wasting come back to haunt Ireland, as he adds just over four minutes playing time.

93 mins: Late chance for Italy.

Paul McGrath: "Danielle Massaro came surging through. I tracked the run; forcing him wide; and -- just as he spun to cross -- launched myself to make the block. Bullseye. The crowd convulsed."

94 mins: The crowd are whistling and baying for the final whistle. One more Italian corner. Massaro plays it short to Tassoti, who crosses the ball.

Paul McGrath: "It came to me as if radar guided and as I cleared, an Italian player lunged into my back knocking me to the ground. I heard the whistle. An Irish free." Seconds later Andy Townsend carries the ball deep into enemy territory towards he corner flag.

Costacurta comes to challenge. Townsend knocks the ball against the Italian and safely into touch.

Game over. Cue a weekend of national celebration and a special place in the annals of Irish soccer for this team of heroes.

- Liam Kelly