The hand of Henry leaves Ireland apopletic with rage

Date Published: {J}

COULD it be that Eamon Dunphy was right all along? RTE’S strident soccer pundit had been at pains in suggesting that the Republic of Ireland squad was being done a huge disservice by the safety-first approach of manager Giovanni Trapattoni throughout the World Cup qualifying campaign. Dunphy believed that Ireland were paying the price for being put into a tactical straightjacket.In response, most of us howled with derision.

Robbie Keane and company were honest pros, but we viewed them as not possessing the technique or class to trouble the top teams – journeymen players of limited ability was the general chorus. Let’s be truthful, few supporters gave Ireland a prayer of winning their second leg play-off against the French at Stade de France last week. The bookies odds of 6/1 against a victory for the visitors told its own story.

But soon a wonder came to light. Not alone did an adventurous Ireland carry the battle to their hosts, but for long tracts of an absorbing match, they outplayed France. Robbie Keane’e superbly taken 33rd minute goal after great work by Kevin Kilbane and Damien Duff down the left flank was no more than they deserved, but the reality is that the men in green could have had a couple more with John O’Shea, Duff and Keane all spurning decent chances.

Ireland were a revelation – I can’t ever remember a performance of such sustained quality in a high stakes match – with the team heroic to a man in their commitment and intensity. France were knocked completely off their stride and must have been relieved that they had managed to hang on for extra time. They had hardly created a chance of note and, perhaps, were subconsciously guilty of assuming the hard work had already been done in Croke Park.

The towering Richard Dunne – what were Manchester City thinking of in moving him on? – and his colleagues weren’t prepared to back off in extra time either, but the fighting Irish were eventually undone by a blatantly illegal goal from William Gallas in the 103rd minute. Thierry Henry handled the ball in the penalty area but, unfortunately, the Swedish referee and his officials missed the incident. Despite vehement Irish protests, the goal was allowed to stand and try valiantly as the team did, they were unable to retrieve the situation.

It was a crushing, heartbreaking outcome but no accusations of ‘cheat’ and ‘thief’ against Henry will change the result. Ireland were the victims of a terrible injustice, but the country’s sporting public still tingled with pride over a great display.

The Irish players were understandably distraught afterwards and, at this level of sport, surely video evidence has to be available to officials in crucial moments of dispute. Despite the near world-wide sympathy for Ireland’s plight and widespread pleas for a re-match, FIFA were not for turning on the issue.

Having introduced a disgraceful eleventh hour seeding of the stronger nations in the play-offs, Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini and their colleagues had helped to engineer the result they wanted. The French Football Federation, like FIFA, may have been left embarrassed by the controversy, but were in mood to hand back their passports to South Africa.

Of course, let’s not kid ourselves, if the roles were reversed Ireland would be equally uncompromising about granting a refixture. That is the way the system works and, unfortunately, the ball has bounced badly for the Irish on this occasion. Yet, none of this can justify the shocking demonisation of Henry over the past week. The French captain is a superb player and his instinctive handball was not the cause of Ireland’s World Cup exit – it was the match officials who didn’t see the incident. Sure, Henry comes across as both smug and arrogant, but he did express his sympathy to the Irish players and suggested that the best solution was a replay. He could have gone into hiding.None of this will change the fact that Ireland have unluckily bowed out of the World Cup. It’s an honourable failure, however, and Trapattoni has established a solid platform to build on for future campaigns.

Still, he can’t afford to be without the likes of midfielders Andy Reid and Stephen Ireland when qualification for the European championships kicks off late next year. Somebody is going to have to swallow some pride in the interim.

For more from John McIntyre see this week’s Tribune