Liam Brady: Our time has come

Liam Brady believes that Ireland can end their long wait for a victory over one of European football’s big guns. Not since our qualifier win over Holland in 2001 have Ireland got the better of one of the continent’s traditional powers, despite a series of near misses. However, having seen Giovanni Trapattoni’s men come within seconds of a win over reigning world champions Italy last month, Brady believes they can go one better to dump France out of the play-offs and book their trip to South Africa next summer. Ireland face the French at Croke Park on Saturday evening determined to set themselves up for a winner-takes-all showdown in Paris four days’ later. Brady said: “I don’t think you can predict how a game is going to go but we would dearly love – and I think it’s very possible – to go to Paris with a win under our belts. I know it’s been maybe a long time coming to defeat one of the top nations but the Italian game has given us great confidence and also taught us a couple of lessons that we need to take into this game. We conceded a goal against Italy from a set-piece, which we weren’t happy with, and then we didn’t hang on to our lead when we took it with a few minutes to go. We have learned big lessons from that game. We have learned that, if we can so nearly beat a team like Italy, we can do the same to France.”