the stadium first hosted a football game (as in soccer) on 30 september 1990 when shamrock rovers used it as a home ground. for the next six seasons until april 1996 rovers played their home games there. the stadium held its first international match on 19 february 1992 when it played host to a home game between ireland and wales national football team. the stadium hosted some games of the 1994 uefa european under-16 football championships including the third-place playoff and the final. the final of the fai cup was held at the rds in 2007 and 2008 during the construction of the aviva stadium. the 2009 final, however, was moved to tallaght stadium. the rds hosted a game between st patrick's athletic and hertha berlin in the 2008–09 uefa cup first round. st patrick's athletic also played steaua bucureşti in the arena on 27 august 2009 in the europa league. the rds arena hosted the ireland team when they played paraguay and algeria in may 2010.