Northern Ireland

Ireland face possibility of first Belfast football match in more than 25 years

Northern Ireland v Republic of Ireland at Windsor Park in November 1993
Northern Ireland v Republic of Ireland at Windsor Park in November 1993 Northern Ireland v Republic of Ireland at Windsor Park in November 1993

IRELAND's footballers face a potential trip to Belfast for the first time in more than 25 years.

Windsor Park in Belfast has been drawn as the possible host of a winner-takes-all European playoff.

At stake is a much-coveted spot at UEFA Euro 2020.

The Republic and Northern Ireland would both first have to win semi-finals next March.

The north travels to play Bosnia and Herzegovina while Mick McCarthy's side will be away to Slovakia. The winners of those matches then face off.

If Northern Ireland loses its semi, the final would instead be in Sarajevo.

Should they both advance, it would be just the twelfth time the two sides have met, and the first in Belfast since November 1994.

But it was their previous politically-charged clash a year earlier that lingers in the memory as the most controversial.

That match was played amid heightened sectarian tensions coming weeks after the Shankill bombing and Greysteel murders.

It went on to become the subject of the play A Night in November and featured in the ESPN documentary Ceasefire Massacre.

Former Ireland midfielder Ray Houghton told the ESPN documentary that the build up to the 1993 game was unlike any other he experienced.

"We had police sitting on the bus with us...There were armoured vans in front and behind of us. It was fearsome, I've got to admit that."

Niall Quinn recalled coming into Windsor Park in the team bus and seeing a crowd of young boys "all pointing to us with imitation guns and pretending to shoot".

In an interview with RTÉ, Bangor-born Republic international Alan Kernaghan said "you could feel the venom in it".

The most recent meeting between the two, in November 2018 in Dublin, passed-by largely without incident.

However, Tánaiste Simon Coveney said he was "embarrassed" by the actions of "a small number of idiots" after some fans booed God Save The Queen.

A postman, who was travelling in a mini-coach from east Belfast with Northern Ireland fans, was also suspended from his job after brandishing a Parachute Regiment flag on his way to the friendly match.

The possible match-up would take place on March 31. The winner will qualify for UEFA Euro 2020 and play two matches in Dublin and one in Bilbao.