Keith Andrews on Ireland’s nightmare Euro 2012 campaign – Euro Memories |

“Going into that tournament we knew we had to play our absolute best, we’d have to produce something quite special but unfortunately we didn’t do that.”

Euro 2012 was a special occasion for the Republic of Ireland. It ended a 10-year wait to feature in a major tournament since Mick McCarthy’s side went to South Korea and Japan for the 2002 World Cup.

But it was not just the 10-year wait that was significant. Add the additional context of two years’ earlier where that infamous Thierry Henry hand-ball incident extinguished any chance of them qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, it made qualifying for 2012 even sweeter.

“We were unlucky going back to qualifying for the World Cup in 2010 with the Henry hand-ball incident, but the squad remained together,” midfielder Keith Andrews, who won 35 caps, tells Sky Sports News.

“I remember going into Euro 2012 and the excitement, what it would bring for the country, playing at a major tournament against the best players – it was a real high for me going into it, but the way the tournament panned out – it didn’t really match that!”

Andrews was ever-present through Ireland’s 2012 qualifying campaign and when he and his team-mates saw the draw for the Euros, they could not have got a more intimidating group. They were drawn against world champions Spain, followed by Italy and Croatia.

“You have to have belief and we certainly had that,” Andrews added.

“We built up a lot of resilience as a team, we had a lot of criticism of our style of play but were very difficult to break down.

“Going into that tournament we knew we had to play our absolute best, we’d have to produce something quite special but unfortunately we didn’t do that.”

Ireland fell 3-1 to Croatia in their opening match. On paper, it was their best chance of getting points and Andrews reflects on that game with a twinge of regret.

“Hindsight is a beautiful thing – it was always going to be very difficult [to qualify from the group], but we earmarked the Croatia game going into the tournament.

“But the way the game went, well it proved very uphill. We conceded so early then we were chasing, then it got away from us. We never really gave a good account as well as we should have.”

Next up was Spain, and needless to say it was going to be tough going up against one of the most gifted squads ever assembled at national level.

“We could’ve played to our absolute peak ability at that game but I think that Spanish team would’ve ripped us to shreds regardless, they were so good,” Andrews said.

“We were chasing shadows for the vast majority of the game. Xavi, Iniesta, Xabi Alonso, David Silva – they were like…