Big football nights in Bulgaria have been memorable for Ireland over the years

It's not a pretty town. Sofia is stark, austere, vaguely menacing.

Ireland will go back there in March for a Nations League play-off and, though the first meeting with Bulgaria didn't come until 1977, Sofia has a special place in Irish football history.

Memorably, it was there that Gary Mackay's shock winner for Scotland catapulted Ireland to a major tournament for the first time.

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It's a city that hasn't many more happy memories for Ireland, however.

Ireland went there under Stephen Kenny, drawing 1-1 in the Nations League, and the place had improved significantly since Giovanni Trapattoni's visit in 2009.

Back then, it seemed that, everywhere you turned, there were warnings to the unwary.

Notices to watch out for everything from pickpockets to dodgy currency exchanges to infected tap water to unlicensed taxi drivers.

The spin from the airport to the city centre brough you past endless miles of battered tower block apartments - all peeling paint and broken concrete.

It's the kind of place where Irish football dreams often go to die.

There have been so many gloomy and hard-faced towns in the former Eastern Europe where qualifying campaigns have gone up in smoke.

Sofia has particularly painful memories for Irish fans of a certain age with two controversial defeats here in 1977 and 1979 scuppering successive campaigns for John Giles's promising side.

At the arrivals lounge at the airport, Trapattoni, Marco Tardelli and Liam Brady were huddled by the luggage carousel, deep in conversation.

A massive billboard was the background to their conversation. It bore a giant image of Dimitar Berbatov with his hands clasped in prayer. The caption was in English. One word. Faith.

The headline in the local English language paper 'The Sofia Echo' sums up the Bulgarian mood - 'Irish minnows'.

When Ireland go back in March, John O'Shea will be there as Heimir Hallgrimsson's assistant manager.

In 2009, he was a mainstay of the Ireland defence but was forced ashore with a leg injury after 82 minutes.

Nicolai Vollquartz must have headed for home, wishing that O'Shea had stayed on the pitch.

The Dane was the fourth official that night and his focus in the nail-biting final minutes in the Vasil Levski Stadium was on the Waterford man.

O'Shea, with his right thigh heavily bandaged, was barely able to walk but he was unable to sit still on the bench after being substituted.

Instead, he kept hobbling to his feet, pumping his fists and roaring on his teammates.

Vollquartz did his best to get O'Shea to sit back down but even he must have been surprised by the demeanour of the Manchester United man.

John O'Shea? Too casual. Too languid. Too laidback. How often had we heard that over the years? No-one was making that particular case in Sofia.

Ireland left for home with a battling point, and there are a couple more snapshots from a memorable trip. Aer Lingus flight EI305 was somewhere over Croatia when the sing-song broke out.

Damien Duff got the ball rolling, tearing into ''Big Bad Leroy Brown'' to great acclaim. It was a showman's version, all hand gestures and elaborate mimes.

Then the Shane Long Show took over with the Tipperary man running through his vast repertoire of timeless classics.

Sean St Ledger, who'd made his competitive debut, stood with his arm around Shay Given, who'd won his 96th cap. Both men sang their hearts out.

All of this provided vivid illustration of what Giovanni Trapattoni has brought to Ireland.

The unity of the past was back. Ireland had a team again, not a collection of individuals.

O'Shea, with over 350 games at United under his belt and nine major honours, is prepared to put in the same graft as Caleb Folan, a bit-part player at Hull City.

As we approached Irish air-space, the players as one broke into ''We're all part of Trappa's Army'', banging out the rhythm on the overhead luggage compartments.

The Italian turned from his front row seat and beamed like a proud grandfather.

To understand Trapattoni's standing in world football, you had to go on the road with him.

In places as different as Mainz, Podgorica,Bari and Sofia, he was greeted like a demigod.

That night in Sofia on Trapattoni's watch, there was an air of magnificent frenzy about Bulgaria's home ground. A chaotic and potent cocktail of colour, noise and spectacle with an extra splash of drama.

To the end, the game churned along to a demented tempo, the pumped-up crowd rolling with it.

It was all heat and fire. An impression of being trapped in a cauldron. From veterans like Given and O'Shea to a rookie like Caleb Folan, so many Ireland players emptied themselves.

That campaign would end up with the heartbreak of Paris, Thierry Henry and all that. But a foundation had been laid, and the next qualifying campaign would be a successful one.

That night in Sofia was one that Trapattoni constantly referenced. Hallgrimsson could do with a big night there too.

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