IT was the last day of the regular English League season.
And, so, for the vast majority of Jack Charlton’s squad, this would be their last competitive outing ahead of the World Cup opener against England.
Liverpool had already been crowned champions but there was no let-up as they beat Coventry City 6-1 with Steve Staunton the only Irishman to feature.
For the second week running, runners-up Aston Villa were involved in a 3-3 draw with Irishmen prominent.
A Tony Cascarino own goal gave Everton the lead but he himself cancelled that out. After Villa went 3-2 up, a Kevin Sheedy penalty earned the home side a share of the spoils.
His rival for a starting berth in Italy, Niall Quinn, scored a late leveller for Manchester City at Crystal Palace.
FOREST RELEGATED
John Sheridan’s miserable season came to an end when Sheffield Wednesday were condemned to relegation after a 3-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest.
Sheridan had joined Forest from Leeds United the previous summer but having made just one appearance, in the League Cup, Brian Clough ended his stay after just three months.
In the Second Division, Frank Stapleton and Kevin Moran’s Blackburn and Alan McLoughlin’s Swindon Town both got the point they needed to secure a place in the play-offs.
And, at the other end of the table, a Bernie Slaven brace helped Middlesbrough avoid slipping into the third tier with a 4-1 win over local rivals Newcastle.
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Meanwhile, RTE unveiled two technological innovations which will be used as part of its coverage.
The ‘scratchpad’ has been copied from American Football and will allow John Giles to display how moves developed and broke down.
The ‘telebeam’ has been devised for the tournament. It converts an incident into an animated cartoon without the background noise to allow the panel to discuss it.