Five minutes from glory in the Gruenwalder - Shamrock Rovers' 1966 European tie with Bayern Munich

It was in 1966 that Shamrock Rovers progressed past the opening round in a European competition for the very first time. That year the club also came as close as is possible to making the quarter-final of the European Cup Winners Cup. 

The Hoops led the mighty Bayern Munich on away goals in the Gruenwalder Stadium with five minutes remaining only to be “hit with a sucker punch” goal as Rovers player Paddy Mulligan recalled when talking about this clash of the Irish and West German cup winners from 54 years ago.

This is the story of a tie that got away from Rovers as they allowed a quarter-final berth slip through hands with Bayern Munich going on to win the competition overall beating Rangers in the final the following May.

Rovers European pedigree

Shamrock Rovers’ debut in Europe in September 1957 has its place in Irish football history. Irrespective of the opposition, this would always have been the case as the Hoops were the first League of Ireland side to compete in the European Cup.

However, as Manchester United were the opponents, the tie is more poignantly remembered as within four months the English champions were tragically involved in the Munich Air Disaster with eight players, including Dubliner Liam Whelan, amongst the 23 people who tragically died that day (extratime.ie discussed this tie in our 2019 Advent Podcast series - see  Shamrock Rovers v Busby Babes).

The Hoops lost that tie against United 9-2 on aggregate. In the following seasons in Europe, Rovers suffered a couple of further heavy defeats but were also unlucky on three occasions to be eliminated by a single goal - in the European Cup against Nice in 1961, and in the Inter City Fairs (UEFA) Cup against Valencia in 1963 and Real Zaragoza in 1965.    

In 1966, Rovers were drawn in the European Cup Winners Cup First Round against Spora Luxembourg and with 4-1 wins both home and away, the Hoops progressed passed the opening round in Europe for the first time ever. And it was German giants Bayern Munich who awaited them in the round of 16.

Bundesliga Bayern

The Bundesliga was formed in 1963 but Bayern wouldn’t claim their first title till 1969 during a golden period for the club. They would win a three-in-a-row in the early 70s with a European Cup three-in-row later in the decade sealing their place as a powerhouse of European football.

In 1966 Bayern qualified for the Cup Winners Cup by winning the DFB-Pokal for only the second time. The Munich side progressed to face the Hoops by beating Czechoslovakian side Tatran Presov.

Managed by Yugoslavian Zlatko Cajkovski, it was a youthful Bayern side – with an average age of 23 compared with Rovers’ 27 – who travelled to Dublin for the first leg. Both 21-year-old Franz Beckenbauer and 22-year-old goalkeeper Sepp Maier were part of the West German squad who finished runners up in the World Cup earlier that year.

That duo along with 21-year-old striker Gerd Müller and 18-year-old defender Georg Schwarzenbeck would form the nucleus of the 1974 West German World Cup winning team. 

“When we heard the draw we were thrilled,” recalled Paddy Mulligan when he spoke to extratime.ie this week about the tie. “Here was Shamrock Rovers, a part-time team training on a Tuesday and Thursday, going to pit our wits against one of the very best club sides in the world – going up against players like Müller, Beckenbauer and Sepp Maier.”

Bayern had turned down a £200,000 offer from AC Milan for Beckenbauer who was the 1966 German footballer of the year. Müller came into this European tie in a rich vein of form as top scorer in the Bundesliga with ten goals – he would finish the season joint top with 28 goals.

Both Beckenbauer and Maier had played in Dalymount Park in the World Cup warm up game in Dublin the previous May with Beckenbauer getting one of the West German goals in the 4-0 victory. 

First leg - Dalymount Park - 9 November 1966

That season across all three European competitions Irish sides were drawn against German opposition. In the European Cup, Vorwaerts Berlin had thumped Waterford 12-1 on aggregate while Eintracht Frankfurt defeated Drumcondra 8-1. 

“They may feel over confident after the way Vorwaerts and Eintract beat League of Ireland teams this year,” said Rovers player-coach Liam Tuohy in the build-up to the game. “That would be to our advantage.”

The Irish Independent preview didn’t give the Hoops much of a chance.  ‘One would be a super optimist to believe that Rovers can raise the standard of their play sufficiently to beat the German Cup holders. Individually and tactically there is a wide chasm between domestic football in Ireland and in Germany.’

But both squads were packed with international players. Tuohy’s team had seven full Ireland internationals and the Rovers cup pedigree was second to none – they were halfway through the period when Rovers won six FAI Cups in a row.

Shamrock Rovers: Mick Smyth; John Keogh, Pat Courtney; Sean Core, Ronnie Nolan, Johnny Fullam; Frank O’Neill, Paddy Mulligan, Liam Tuohy, Billy Dixon, Mick Kearin.

Bayern Munich: Sepp Maier; Hans Novak, Peter Kupferschmidt; Werner Olk, Franz Beckenbauer; Rudolf Nafziger, Gerd Müller, Rainer Olhauser, Dieter Koulmann, Dieter Brenninger.

In front of 22,000 spectators in Dalymount Park, Liam Tuohy deployed Mulligan in a man-marking role on Beckenbauer. “Liam said to me ‘I don’t care if I don’t see you for the night as long as I don’t see Beckenbauer’. He was going to do more damage to us than I was going to do with Bayern Munich and it worked out to a great degree.”

It was the visitors who took the lead against the run of play after 17 minutes through Dieter Koulmann. Twice Billy Dixon went close to equalizing, most notably with a header five minutes from the break that came back off the crossbar.

Rovers’ neat passing was finally rewarded with an equaliser just after the hour mark. Mulligan started the move before Dixon back heeled the ball to Mick Kearin. When his cross came to Tuohy, he headed the ball back to the incoming Dixon to slot it home. 

“I made a 60 yard run as I saw a gap and as I hadn’t been getting forward all night I made the run,” said Mulligan who would go on to win the UEFA Cup with Chelsea five years later. “Beckenbauer didn’t track me back so well done Franz, thanks very much!”

There was a delay afterwards when some missiles were thrown on the pitch. The Dutch referee Lee Van Ravens called Tuohy over with the player having to deliver a message from the referee to be announced over the PA that if any more objects came onto the pitch the match would be abandoned. 

“The sad part was the game was held up for seven or eight minutes because some eejit behind the school end goal threw a bottle on the pitch. We were on top of Bayern at that point and they were panicking. I never thought I’d see that in a German team. If that interruption hadn’t occurred I feel that we would have gone on to win that game. We really should have beaten them in Dalymount.”

‘Rovers should have won a game between two very modern and progressive teams,’ was how the Examiner newspaper saw it the next day. ‘Both drew their strength from two quite magnificent defences but far from being a dull chessboard type of contest such massed defences can produce, this was as tense and as inventive as a Hitchcock thriller.’

Second Leg – Gruenwalder Stadium - 23 November 1966

The return game took place in Germany a fortnight later in freezing conditions in Bavaria had even more drama.

In the buildup to the match, Tuohy was a major injury concern. He had injured his wrist in the first half against Waterford the previous weekend. He needed an x-ray in Munich but got the all-clear and the Hoops were helped by the returning Bobby Gilbert who recovered from injury to take the place of Sean Core and bring added physicality up front for the Hoops.

On the eve of the match, Rovers trained on the practice ground beside the stadium and then visited the 40,000-capacity stadium which still had traces of snow on the pitch. That evening they attended an ice-hockey game with Bayern winning 13-0. 

Mulligan moved to centre half with Ronnie Nolan playing his 16^th match in Europe – he had played in all of Rovers’ European games to date.

Tuohy’s team were looking to exploit any space that came available if Beckenbauer got forward. “If he attacks I believe we have a better chance,” said Tuohy on the eve of the game about his team’s tactics for dealing with the German playmaker. “Their defence does not carry any great players and if Beckenbauer leaves them, then we have a far better chance of getting through.

“Our object will be to contain the Germans. I believe we have still a great chance of going into the next round. It will all depend on the opening 30 minutes. In that time we must contain the Germans and if there is no score up to half-time, then we are in with a great chance.”

Having said all that, the Hoops had a disastrous opening to the game, conceding two goals inside a quarter of an hour through Dieter Brenninger and Rainer Ohlhauser’s volley. Tuohy had the best goal opportunity for Rovers in the opening period only to shoot straight at Maier with only the German goalkeeper to beat, leaving the Hoops to still trail by two goals at the break. 

It was a bitterly cold night in Munich with temperatures nine degrees below freezing and only 11,500 supporters came to the game - many fans stayed at home to watch the match which had the second half screened live on German TV.

Broadcasting for RTÉ Radio in the stadium was Philip Greene and anyone tuning in on television in Germany or on the radio in Ireland was transfixed by how the second half went.

Rovers bought a set of woolen undershirts especially for the game and maybe that helped as it looked like Bayern were the team that were frozen early in the second half. Gilbert hit the crossbar for the Hoops and then the visitors scored twice before the hour mark. 

A fine run by O'Neill resulted in a cross from the end line that Gilbert got to. His effort took a touch off Beckenbauer to take the ball by Maier.

There was polite applause from the home crowd for the Rovers’ goal but it was stunned silence five minutes later when the Hoops equalized on the night to lead the tie on away goals. Tuohy raced around Beckenbauer to pick up a beautifully judged pass by Mick Kearin. He didn’t panic with 40 yards still to go and he ran on to slide the ball home by the advancing goalkeeper. Gilbert then hit the cross bar and O'Neill forced Maier into making two magnificent saves. 

Frank O’Neill was simply superb on the night and he gave Han Novak’s replacement Georg Schwarzenbeck a torrid time.  The Irish Independent noted that ‘Schwarzenbeck got a thorough roasting from the Irish international winger. O'Neill went outside him, inside him and at times seemed even to go through him, for the German could never hold the Irishman, who looked most dangerous in the front line.’

Late drama

With just five minutes remaining and Bayern seemingly on the verge of elimination from the competition, the German side somehow conjured a goal to give them a 4-3 aggregate win. Even more than 50 years later it is a goal that grates for a couple of the Rovers legends.

Speaking last year to this author, Frank O’Neill described the action. “They got a free kick just inside our half. Beckenbauer picked up the ball. I remember him tossing it in the air and I went to stand in front of the ball but their full back took off. I went with him but Beckenbauer played the ball into the box. 

“Two of our players jumped at the same time for the ball and it fell to Müller and he stuck it in the net to make it 3-2. In those days we were a bit naive. You didn’t go out and play defensive, you just went out and played as you normally played.”

Mulligan felt the goal came from a lapse in concentration and the free kick should have been retaken due to a rolling ball. “I remember it distinctly and the ball was moving. That is what the big clubs in the world get away with. It was very very unfortunate. It was a complete sickener having played so well in the second half and in the home leg in Dublin. We were hit with a sucker punch. Müller hadn’t got a kick of the ball in either game but that is what great players can do.” 

And what was Bayern’s reaction after the final whistle? “Relief. Relief. Relief. I was shaking Müller’s hand and he looked apologetically at me and said more less ‘I’m sorry’. Beckenbauer was very gracious after the game too even after I’d given him a few ‘welcoming tackles’ back in Dalymount!

“Who is to say that Shamrock Rovers couldn’t have gone on much further in the competition. We had some exceptional players at that time and a manager in Liam Tuohy who encouraged us to express ourselves within the framework of the team. It was wonderful to play under him. He was a magnificent manager who was so knowledgeable about the game.”

Speaking after the match Tuohy unsurprisingly praised his team. “The lads were magnificent, coming from behind like that from two goals down,” said Tuohy. “If they were full time players like the Germans and had their training opportunities, I think we could sweep through Europe.” 

The Irish Ambassador in Bonn Mr. Eamon Kenney telegrammed his commiserations to Rovers. “Congratulations – excellent and sporting display against FC Bayern. All Irish people proud of your magnificent performance as first class ambassadors for Ireland.”

It was a long journey home for the Hoops as their plane coming from London took off a day late due to fog. Bayern showed their appreciation of Rovers' display by paying half the cost of the extra night's stay in Munich. When Rovers arrived in London with all flights to Dublin heavily booked, the players travelled in small parties on each subsequent flight. 

Shamrock Rovers had come within five minutes of knocking out Bayern Munich and earning themselves a third tie in Europe that season – they wouldn’t manage that feat of three ties in a European campaign until 2011 when the Hoops went on to qualify for the Europa League group stages.

Bayern went on to win the 1966/67 European Cup Winners Cup, their first ever European trophy, thanks to a 1-0 extra-time win over Rangers – the springboard for that success coming from striker Gerd Müller with his late late goal that broke the Hoops’ hearts back in the second round.

Long Read: Five minutes from glory in the Gruenwalder - @ShamrockRovers 1966 European Cup Winners Cup clash with @FCBayernENhttps://t.co/vXEHmecVwupic.twitter.com/WSPswk88B4

— Extratime.ie (@ExtratimeNews) April 21, 2020