Ray Houghton has described his former Republic of Ireland team-mate Alan McLoughlin, who passed away yesterday aged 54 , as a “genuinely lovely football man.”
McLoughlin, who revealed in March he was living with a form of kidney cancer, played for Ireland on 42 occasions between 1990 and 1999. He was best known for scoring one of the most important and dramatic goals in Irish football history, the equaliser against Northern Ireland in Windsor Park in 1993, which secured Ireland a spot at the 1994 World Cup in America.
President Michael D Higgins, himself a keen soccer supporter, said “Supporters of Irish soccer, and in particular those who will have followed the team during the Charlton and McCarthy eras, will have been greatly saddened by the news of the death of former Republic of Ireland international Alan McLoughlin. His passing at such an early age comes after a long battle with cancer. Sabina and I send our deepest sympathies to his family and friends, and to all those who knew him as a player for both club and country.”
