Ireland end decade of pain by reaching Euro 2012

Ireland qualified for their first major championship in a decade after following their 4-0 Euro 2012 playoff win in Estonia with a 1-1 second-leg draw in front of a giddy home crowd on Tuesday.The Irish have suffered a series of playoff defeats since making their major tournament bow in 1988 with their only European Championship appearance, most painfully when Thierry Henry's infamous handball ended their World Cup dreams two years ago.Friday's thumping victory in Tallinn made sure that run came to an end and neither Estonia stand-in captain Konstantin Vassiljev's second-half equaliser on Tuesday nor a generally flat Irish performance could spoil the celebrations in Dublin. "I am very proud for many reasons ... I am very happy for the players, for you and for all the people, all the supporters," coach Giovanni Trapattoni told a news conference. "We can go into the tournament with confidence ... I think never say never. In football there is no favourite."Ireland, who have turned into a dogged and defensively sound outfit under the Italian, edged out Slovakia and Armenia in a tough qualification group to set up the make or break tie with the Estonians.Although their plane tickets to Poland and Ukraine next June seemed all but assured prior to kickoff, Stephen Ward made Ireland's passage even more secure when he opened the scoring after 31 minutes.