Robbie Dennison on Michael O'Neill and Northern Ireland's quest to end 30-year exile
Tuesday 6 October 2015 18:24, UK
Sky Sports' Johnny Phillips meets former Northern Ireland international Robbie Dennison to talk World Cup glory days, the wilderness years and the country's imminent return to an international tournament after 30 years.
On Thursday, at home to Greece, Northern Ireland have the chance to bring to an end three decades in the international wilderness.
Led by the impressive Michael O'Neill, the side that's "not Brazil" - as the self-deprecating Windsor Park terrace song goes - can finally qualify for a major tournament again.
Live Euro 2016 Qualifiers
A whole generation of fans has grown up and had families of their own with no recollection of the last time Northern Ireland progressed to a major finals. Euro 2016 will mark 30 years since their last tournament football.
Mexico '86 was the second successive World Cup finals the country had reached, following their success at Spain '82, where Gerry Armstrong's goal helped beat the hosts on their way to topping the first group stage. Only defeat to France in the second group stage prevented them reaching the semi-finals.
Four years later they struggled to a solitary point in the group stages, with Spain taking revenge and a Careca-inspired Brazil routing Billy Bingham's side 3-0, although the goal everyone remembers came from the boot of debutant Josimar - a 25-yard scorcher that left Pat Jennings helplessly waving it into the net. But there was no disgrace in that. They were great days for Bingham's men.
'Heroics'
Robbie Dennison was a young winger at Glenavon, just starting out as a semi-professional, when Northern Ireland set off for Spain and he remembers the buzz those two World Cup trips created as if it was yesterday.
"It was fantastic when they qualified in '82 and '86. To do as well as they did was incredible. It just pulled everyone together and the interest it created was phenomenal," he says.
So how did such a tiny country upset the odds to qualify for consecutive World Cups?
"Sometimes you just have a good group of players don't you? The side didn't change much and the players played together over a long period of time and got to know each other well and you saw the results of that between 1980 and 1986.
"The players I watched most of at the time were Sammy McIlroy and Jimmy Nicholl, who played for Manchester United. Pat Jennings was phenomenal, I don't think there was a better keeper in the world at that time, and then you had Martin O'Neill, Billy Hamilton and Gerry Armstrong. The group just came together and performed heroics."
Dennison was by now plying his trade in England, and after helping Wolverhampton Wanderers to promotion from Division Four in the 1987/88 season he won his first cap.
"Just as the downward spiral started!" he jokes. "Wolves were starting to pick up then and I got called up for a match against France at Windsor Park. It was great to be called up but there were a lot of changes. Those players from the World Cups had moved on. It was still great to play for your country, but at no stage did we look like qualifying for a tournament after that."
Between then and the time of his last cap in 1997 Dennison experienced the struggles of qualification as Northern Ireland's ranking slipped further and further.
"Whenever we went into any group there was always three teams that were better than us and we just couldn't compete. We had a decent enough group of players but we were always behind the eight ball with qualification and couldn't catch up. Now they are starting to get a better group of players together again."
It has been a long wait. The current team has exceeded all expectations and the nation eagerly awaits Thursday night's encounter with Greece. So what has been the key to the turn around in fortunes?
"The start of a qualifying process is always so important," Dennison says. "Going away to Hungary and Greece in the first couple of games and winning early on must have given them immense confidence. We just never went away and won games in my time. There's still a bit of work to be done and it won't be as easy as some people think against Greece but hopefully we can qualify."
'Knowledge'
It is one of his former international team-mates in those wilderness years who has led the revival, and O'Neill's success has come as no surprise to Dennison.
"He was a great lad to play with and really intelligent. You could see he had a great knowledge of the game. He's done a fantastic job. They're a decent bunch of players too of course. I really like Steven Davis in midfield, you need someone to put a foot on the ball and control a game, bringing other people into play, and he can do that.
"Defensively they've been solid all the way through. Jonny Evans and Gareth McAuley when they play together don't look like conceding many. But also you need a goalscorer and Kyle Lafferty has done that. He's a handful, puts himself about and most importantly gets on the end of things and scores goals."
Dennison, who lives in Birmingham, recently had cause to return home and see for himself the stir O'Neill's men have created. He took part in a charity bike ride, raising funds for Diabetes UK via his fundraising page justgiving.com/Robbie-Dennison.
He cycled 565 miles in a week, from Mizen Head in the south west corner to Malin Head in the far north. "It was the hardest thing I've ever done. When the wind got up you were just grateful to be staying on the bike! But it was great to be involved with it and we're raising some really good funds for the charity."
With his nephew, Gary Hamilton, now in charge of Glenavon, Dennison popped in to his old stomping ground to say hello.
"It was lovely to be back home. The whole place is buzzing with talk of Northern Ireland's qualification chances. Hopefully we can achieve that this week and get to a finals once again."
