The first year down for discussion on REALLY INTO YEARS is 2006, the year in which we all partied...unless you’re Steve Staunton.

We remember the disastrous Staunton reign, from its main idea - to mimic the Charlton years - to that night in Cyprus and the abject Liveline moments.

Might it have been different had Bobby Robson been able to play a larger part? And what happened to the RTÉ panel’s criticism of John Delaney?

We also reflect on the World Cup: why did Zidane do what he did? Why was there a big scrap at the Oxegen music festival after the final? And where does this tournament stand in the pantheon of Funny English Exits?

Plus: the Mayo/Dublin hillgate drama, Munster finally win the Heineken Cup, the sheer Celtic Tigerness of the Ryder Cup, Stephen Kenny’s mighty Derry City, classic Apres Match, Dick Cheney shoots a man, Michael Flatley paints with his feet, the Love Ulster riots, and a fake priest applies for the Irish football job from Joe Schmidt’s future residence.

Get in touch with us to suggest what we missed out on: email gavincooney@the42.ie, or tweet @gcooney93 and @shockproofbeats.

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2000 was a pretty big year in Ireland: Samantha Mumba was topping the charts, the economy was roaring, and a Dubliner called Anna came second in the very first series of Big Brother.

We’re more interested in another runner-up, however, as Sonia O’Sullivan exorcised a few demons in winning silver in the Sydney Olympics.

We remember that, along with the fact it obscured a godawful Olympics for Ireland, and the CJ Hunter/Marion Jones drama.

2000 was also the year that launched a couple of Irish sporting dynasties - the Irish rugby team left behind the bedraggled nineties to win in Paris, as Munster began a torturous love affair with the Heineken Cup; and Brian Cody won his first All-Ireland title as Kilkenny manager.

Elsewhere we remember Euro 2000, perhaps the greatest tournament of them all, and this was also the year in which Roy Keane made infamous reference to the Old Trafford’s Prawn Sandwich Brigade.

Plus - Kevin Keegan quits in a Wembley toilet, Kerry win the All-Ireland, Tony Blair’s drunken son, the Love Bug, and did John Lennon send money to the IRA?

Get in touch with us on Twitter: @gcooney93 and @shockproofbeats.

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We’re turning the clock back to 1994 this week. This was the year the phrase Celtic Tiger was officially coined, and with Riverdance, Jim Sheridan and Pierce Brosnan becoming Bond, it may be the year Ireland took her place among the nations of the Earth.

Jack Charlton’s Ireland are usually the avatar for Ireland’s social progress, and we’re by actor and playwright Emmet Kirwan to remember what it was like to travel to that World Cup, and how it changed this country.

We also remember Leitrim’s Connacht title victory with Seamus O’Rourke.

Plus: Charlie Redmond, OJ, Sonia, and Kevin Keegan’s innocent and inadvisable baiting of Alex Ferguson.

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