On this day in 1882, Ireland played their first ever international game of football. Unfortunately, it was a 13-0 hammering by the English.
The game took place at Bloomfield Park in Belfast two years after the formation of the Irish Football Association. Ireland became the fourth country after England, Scotland and Wales to field an international side. The Irish starting XI included 15-year-old Samuel Johnston who held the record for being the youngest international debutant in the world until it was broken by Uruguay’s Aníbal Zapicán Falcao in 1908.
England opened the scoring through Howard Vaughton who went on to score five in the game.