7 december 1966. spain 2-0 republic of ıreland spain’s second group 1 fixture was against ıreland in the estadio mestalla, valencia. spain dominated for long periods, and took the lead after just 21 minutes through espanyol forward josé maría garcía. jose maria received the ball from josé martínez sánchez “pirri” near the corner, but dribbled inside and scored through a deflection. spain could have easily had more, and had numerous chances on alan kelly’s goal, but could only score two with pirri grabbing the second. losses to turkey and czechoslovakia (twice) ended ıreland’s hopes of reaching the 1968 european championships, with spain reaching the quarter-finals where they were knocked out by england.
ıreland: alan kelly (preston north end), shay brennan (manchester utd), charlie hurley (sunderland) capt, john dempsey (fulham), tony dunne (manchester utd), eamonn dunphy (millwall), mick meagan (huddersfield town), frank o’neill (shamrock rovers), jimmy conway (fulham), alfie hale (waterford), andy mcevoy (blackburn rovers), joe haverty (shelbourne)
spain: ıribar, sanchis, gallego, reija, paquito, violeta, pirri, jara, ansola, luis, jose maria
