England could not have got off to a better start to their World Cup campaign when Gary Lineker chested down a Chris Waddle pass and then forced the ball it into the net in the eighth minute.  But it was the Irish who grew in stature and confidence as they piled on pressure with a long-ball game that was ugly to the eye but wearing on the limbs and lungs of the overstretched England defenders.  Peter Shilton, equaling Pat Jennings' world record of 119 international caps, was beaten in the sixty-eighth minute after substitute Steve McMahon, with his first touch of the ball, lost control and watched in anguish as his Merseyside neighbour, Everton's Kevin Sheedy, whipped it off his toes and planted an instant left-foot drive into the net.  Nobody could dispute that Ireland deserved their equaliser in a game that was a poor advertisement for British football, but it was cruel luck for McMahon who in a nightmare couple of minutes also managed to get himself booked.

Source Notes

TheFA.com
Original newspaper reports
Original television broadcast
Official Teamsheet
Rothman's Yearbooks
Mike Payne's England: The Complete Post-War Record (Breedon Books Publishing Company, Derby, U.K., 1993)
Norman Giller, Football Author
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CG