Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo scored a second half hattrick against Northern Ireland at Windsor Park in 2013 There have been 53 hat-tricks, by 50 different players, scored against (Northern) Ireland since 1882. While of course the names of Law, Greaves, Bierhoff and Ronaldo are world renowned and their feats will live long in the history books, a match against Ireland, particularly in the early days, presented opportunities for some players to shine brightly on the international stage, if only briefly (three different Scotsmen scored four against Ireland while winning their one-and-only cap!). Of course, as with many historical football statistics, and goalscorers in particular, who scored and when can remain a point of conjecture. Such things were often recorded by journalists, sitting a hundred yards away, on an ad-hoc basis and without the aid of TV replays or other modern technology. The fact is, there may have been more (or less) hat-tricks scored against Ireland than those l
