Sport 16-11-2001 Republic of Ireland Join World Cup Party who: Republic of Ireland football team what: Lose 1-0 to iran but go through to World Cup finals on aggregate where: Iran when: Yesterday snippet: "Mick McCarthy finally buried his play-off jinx as the Republic stormed into next summer`s World Cup finals," says The Sun after Republic of Ireland lost the second leg of their play-off in Iran 1-0 yesterday thanks to Yahya Golmohamadi`s stoppage-time header, but went through 1-2 on aggregate. "One of the best Irish parties was staged a long way from Tipperary with 80,000 Iranian guests and not a pint to be found," says Matt Dickinson in The Times. And RoI boss McCarthy was highly emotional as he came off the pitch to a packed press conference. "I am immensely proud," he said. "Some of the players like Jason McAteer, David Connolly and Steve Staunton have been criticised by people, but they have been magnificent. They have stuck together as a group of players and people. People fight in wars but, in football terms, to me they are heroes." Although McCarthy said 14 months ago that it would take "a miracle" to get to the finals, "this was no miracle, no fluke," says The Guardian`s Daniel Taylor. "What they have achieved cannot be overstated. They came through from a qualifying group incorporating Dutch and Portuguese flair, and anyone who says they will be heading to the Far East as second-class citizens is missing the point entirely." [... more]

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