Well, its official - Italia '90 is Ireland's greatest sporting moment.
From Packie Bonnar's save to David O'Leary's penalty, fondness for the apex of Ireland's most memorable sporting summer has not diminished with time.
Over a series of Thursday's, RTÉ could be said to have been delaying the inevitable.
Watching RTÉ 2 now “Ireland’s Greatest Sporting Moment” - hands down Italia 90 & that Packie Bonner save & David O’Leary penalty. I wasn’t even born & I don’t know a better moment in Irish history that tops it!
— Rachel Lynch (@Rachel_Lynchx) December 7, 2017
Plenty saying that Italia '90 was over-rated. It's like 'Nam. You weren't there, man. #irelandsgreatest
— Kieran Cunningham (@KCsixtyseven) December 8, 2017
Yet, at least it did not come without the opportunity to enjoy once more many of Ireland's outstanding sporting achievements.
In the revisited euphoria, Brendan Downey brought to the fore a fascinating "new" angle of the eventual winner. From the alternate end, this footage shows us O'Leary's winning penalty from the closest possible perspective of the former Arsenal man himself.
It does not come without a few questions however. Firstly, keeping in mind this is from 1990, how big must this recording equipment have been?
On top of that, given that Downey informs us that fans were put through three security checkpoints, how in God's name did they get it into the stand itself? Let alone holding up throughout a penalty shoot-out.
What with the euphoria that would have come shortly thereafter, how this footage was saved remains a mystery too - not to mention holding onto the recording equipment throughout that night.
A little bit shaky in places, it really captures the build up to Ireland's timeless victory perfectly. From a palpable sense of nerves before O'Leary steps up, to absolute bedlam, the person behind the camera deserves a helluva lot of credit for trying to stay focused on the pitch once O'Leary had scored.
It was never going to be easy.
@sportsdes only video to get into stadium in 1990. Searched 3 times .. great memory brendan pic.twitter.com/jufMv2arxi
— brendan downey (@adambencharlie) December 7, 2017
