SACRE BLEU ... Thierry Henry illegally keeps
the ball in play before setting up winner.
France 1 Rep of Ire 1 - (aet; France win 2-1 on agg)
The Arsenal legend did a Maradona by
TWICE using his hand to set up William Gallas'
extra-time clincher.
Even Henry admitted: "The ball hit my hand and, I will
be honest, it was a handball. "I played it, the ref allowed it. It
would have been better to do it another way, but I am not the
ref."
Irish defender Richard Dunne, asked if Henry had
cheated, replied: "I think it is quite blatant that he did. It's
not even a hard decision."
Striker Kevin Doyle raged: "It is sickening. I am sure
Henry did not expect to get away with it because it was so obvious.
"The linesman had the best view, apart from Shay Given.
"It is difficult. We are all gutted. You do not blame
the player if he can get away with it. It's nearly a natural
reaction."
Centre-back Sean St Ledger rapped: "We feel cheated. It
has cost a lot of us our dreams. As a boy, I used to dream of
playing in the World Cup finals and now I will not."
The goal echoed Diego Maradona's infamous 'Hand of God'
goal for Argentina against England at the 1986 World Cup.
Irish boss Giovanni Trapattoni said: "All of Europe saw
what happened. I am sure if the referee had asked Henry, he would
have admitted to the handball.
"I would prefer to go out on penalties than this."
Robbie Keane's first-half strike cancelled out France's 1-0
first-leg lead and forced the qualifying play-off into
extra-time.
Arsenal defender Gallas said of his decisive strike:
"It happened so quickly. I received the ball from Thierry but I
couldn't see if it hit his hand."
France boss Raymond Domen- ech said: "It was
miraculous."
