Republic of Ireland v Scotland Football Results

The Republic of Ireland has played Scotland on 11 occasions. Interestingly Ireland’s first match against these near neighbours did not occur until the two countries were drawn against each other in the 1962 World Cup qualifiers.

The first encounter took place in Hampden Park on the 3rd of May 1961. The Irish team on the day included RTE soccer pundit John Giles who was a Manchester United player at the time. Unfortunately the Irish were soundly beaten 4-1 and lost 3-0 in the return match at Dalymount Park. Ireland finished that qualifying campaign bottom of a three-team group, that also included the former Czechoslovakia, having lost all four matches.

The next time Ireland met Scotland in a competitive match was in the Euro 1988 qualifiers. This was the first qualification campaign since Jack Charlton had been appointed Irish manager in somewhat controversial circumstances. The Irish had opened the campaign with a creditable away draw against Belgium but this was somewhat undone when they played out an uninspiring scoreless draw with the Scots at Landsdowne Road.

However Jack Charlton got the team back on track in the next qualification match which was the return tie against the Scots in Hampden Park. A sixth minute goal from Mark Lawrenson of Liverpool was enough to secure a win for the Irish despite the fact that injuries forced Charlton into playing Paul McGrath and Ronnie Whelan at full back.

This was not the last involvement or influence that Scotland would have in Ireland’s fate in this qualification campaign. The Irish had finished their campaign and could only look on as Bulgaria took on Scotland in Sofia in the last match of the group. If Bulgaria won they would go to the Euro 88 finals and once again the Irish would miss out narrowly. Amazingly Scotland, with nothing to play for except pride, scored an 87th minute winner in a foggy Sofia courtesy of a relatively unknown player from Hearts called Gary Mackay. Thanks to a Scotsman Ireland had qualified for it’s first major championship finals.

Republic of Ireland Match Results Against Scotland

Republic of Ireland v Scotland Record Summary

Ireland v Scotland World Cup Qualifiers Record

Ireland v Scotland Euro Qualifiers Record

Ireland v Scotland Friendly Matches Record