Remembering Niall Quinn's Remarkable Penalty Save That Relegated Derby County

The year is 1991. 

'The One and Only' by Chesney Hawkes is top of the charts, ​Comedy Central has just been launched on television and $500m worth of paintings have been stolen from the Van Gogh Museum.

However, none of this matters.

The only thing that mattered in April 1991 was Niall Quinn.

The cheeky 6'4 Irishman had arrived at Maine Road just over a year prior and had already established himself as a clinical and powerful goalscoring machine. But 20 April would prove that there's more to Quinn than meets the eye.

​Manchester City welcomed struggling Derby County to the north west towards the end of the penultimate season before the Premier League's inception. Despite having finished 14th in the previous campaign, the Sky Blues were in the hunt for European football, while visiting Derby knew they were a defeat away from returning to the second division.

The stakes were pretty high.

It appeared to be business as usual for both sides, however, following Quinn's early left-footed volley from the edge of the box, which the Irishman finished with aplomb. It was the forward's 20th goal of the season, but such high numbers were becoming commonplace for Quinn.

All appeared as it should, really. Nothing to write home about. No scandals or shocking refereeing decisions. Just another dismal day at the office for ​Derby. 

That was until Tony Coton - the Man City goalkeeper - threw the Rams a lifeline. 

Following a sensational ball in behind the Sky Blues' defence, Dean Saunders found himself one-on-one with Coton in the Man City goal, which quickly led to the Welshman being felled by the onrushing keeper.

With Coton undeniably the last man, the referee saw fit to brandish a red card, and with City having no substitute goalkeeper on the bench - and no Kyle Walker to strap on the gloves - responsibility fell the way of Quinn as half-time beckoned.

This was it. Derby's route back into the game...and maybe just the beginning of their great escape.

Up stepped Saunders. After all, who else in this Derby team would you entrust with a crucial penalty?

However, this is football we're talking about. Nothing is ever simple.

As the football gods decided to take one last laugh at Derby County, Saunders blasted his penalty towards the left-hand side of Quinn's goal, only for the Irishman's lanky frame to deny his fellow attacker. You couldn't make it up.

"That was fun. It still actually gets played a lot now," Quinn joked.

"I saved a penalty and poor Dean Saunders. I meet Dean Saunders the odd time and he had a great career and he always says to me 'God, you ruined my career, Quinny' because I saved his penalty. And they got relegated the same day. It was a really tough gig for them," as quoted by .News Talk.

With Quinn now stranded between the sticks for the second half, responsibility fell to his teammates to finish the game off, which they did - narrowly edging out an utterly dismal Derby 2-1.

As if the Rams hadn't suffered enough at the hands of Quinn - quite literally - the defeat would send them tumbling back into the second division - a place they would find themselves all too frequently over the coming decades.

Meanwhile, Quinn had written his name into Man City folklore, and would probably be as useful a third-choice keeper as Scott Carson is today for the Sky Blues...