Well done Ireland.

ShamoBuc

Would prefer to be looking forward to S.Africa, travesty.

KELTICKNIGHTT

would be nice too look forward to s.africa but now have too look forward too euro,,did you see henry sitting down with one of lad on pitch,wonder was there alittle guilt there by him maybe or maybe not

Spiritoftheseventies

KELTICKNIGHTT wrote: »

would be nice too look forward to s.africa but now have too look forward too euro,,did you see henry sitting down with one of lad on pitch,wonder was there alittle guilt there by him maybe or maybe not

The cheek of Henry. That took some neck!

KELTICKNIGHTT

bayviewclose wrote: »

The cheek of Henry. That took some neck!

are you part french:D

Spiritoftheseventies

Non!

Prufrock

Fair play. They were fantastic. Such a shame we didn't go through.

Boston

we were robbed!!!

KELTICKNIGHTT

Boston wrote: »

we were robbed!!!

what where you watching ,kids channel

tdv

Great performance & nothing to show for it. Story of the Irish team.

FearDark

Well done lads, never lost faith in ye, I honestly had the greatest night watchin ye play, I've never seen an Ireland play as good in my life. So proud of ye.

Morzadec

Well done Ireland, so unlucky tonight. One thing is for sure - our performance and undeserved loss will be publicized worldwide so we can certainly hold our head up high. Evryone will know just how unlucky we were.

Surely we have a great chance of qualifying for 2012? 16 slots for the Euros instead of 13 for the World Cup.

What are the chances of us securing a 2nd seed?

Kirby

Prufrock wrote: »

Fair play. They were fantastic. Such a shame we didn't go through.

Fair play by us perhaps, not by them.

People are blaming the officials, and rightfully so. The linesman CLEARLY saw it, and did nothing. Bottled it when it mattered.

But I have to wonder, what percentage of the pro's would have celebrated that goal? Would DiCanio have? Its too easy to just say "cheating is part of the game" and let Henry off the hook. An honest player would have owned up to it.

We do it too. We were awarded a phantom penalty earlier in the year and one of our lads should have told the referee. Same thing.
This is not club football. Its not about money. People play international football for the glory and the pride. The standard of fair play should be at its peak when the world is watching.

Sportsmanship is a rarity in todays game. There are very few honourable footballers left.

Cheeky_gal

This may seem like a very naive question but can anything actually be done about what happened tonight? Like a re-match or something? I'm not big into football at all btw but I like everyone else was genuinely upset for the players

Sorry but just curious if someone could answer that cheers

MisterAnarchy

Great performance by Ireland ,soul destroying to lose to such an unfortunate goal after completely dominating the match .

It just goes to show the effect of a positive attacking attitude .
Ireland's attitude right from the start was spot on .
They pushed the back line well up the pitch ,pressurized the French and completely dominated possession and chances.

Andrews was a colossus in midfield ,Dunne a giant at the back and a French team with alot of pace barely created a decent goalscoring opportunity in 90 minutes.
France were poxed to go through and lucky to escape as Ireland wasted some glorious chances.
If you dont take your chances at this level in any sport you pay the price.

Hopefully Ireland will play as positively in their future matches and keep up the positivity even when they go 1-0 up.
Sitting back in games and inviting teams on us and gifting them possession has yielded no rewards,its only when we have been aggressive and played higher up the pitch that we have done well.

That Irish performance would have beaten almost any international side tonight,and its a tragedy that we arent in South Africa next year.

kenon

Cheeky_gal wrote: »

This may seem like a very naive question but can anything actually be done about what happened tonight? Like a re-match or something? I'm not big into football at all btw but I like everyone else was genuinely upset for the players

Sorry but just curious if someone could answer that cheers

Nope. Thats it done.

Overheal

Im sorry to hear about the loss. But gladder to hear the Irish side played like Men.

Now if someone would just knock out the Italians... >_>

brazilicious

Fairplay to the lads, they played their hearts out til the end and gave it everything. A crushing defeat, especially under the undeserved circumstances but they held their heads high and played on like men... have to hand it to them, they made the country proud.

orourkeda

Brilliant. I never expected that they could play this well.

Despite the outcome I feel really proud of the team and they deserve all the praise they get

Notorious

Excellent game tonight, the best Irish game I've seen in a while. The handball incident was a pity but unfortunately these decisions happen in football. If anything the argument for a 'tv referee' is reinforced.

The only negative thing I'll say is that McShane shouldn't be in the Irish squad. I knew something bad would happen when he came off the bench.

Congratulations to Trap and the team.

Kone

Well done to the lads, they did us proud and deserved better than to be knocked out by a sham goal.

carlop

I'll hold my hands up and admit that I didn't think we had any chance of winning tonight. How wrong I was. That was a truly inspirational performance, and when we look back over the two legs, pretty much all the good chances were ours. To lose in the manner we did and after the performance we gave is truly devastating, but the team did us proud tonight.

Big Ears

In an age where football is synonymous with men diving to the floor as if they were jumping into a swimming pool, where commitment and desire are almost always questioned we had 14 men, and I mean real men, stand up and fight for the honour of their country.

Even those who have their Irishness questioned, rose to the occasion and showed their Emerald shaded hearts.

Disappointment may mean I won't sleep well tonight, but at least I'll sleep Proud !

DirkVoodoo

+1 to the OP.

I didn't get that usual sinking feeling I get when we get totally outclassed and suffer an embarrassing defeat. I feel a little angry over "that incident" and the chances squandered, but the overall performance would make any Irish person proud.

This was a heroic performance and it was truly inspiring to watch. In fact, even knowing the result I would happily watch that match again and again.

Let's hope they can build on it and that it might inspire the next generation of Irish footballers.

Harpy

Well done Ireland.Ye played amazing tonight.Ye've gone out with yer head held high and can be proud that ye gave it everything..
Thanks!

ditpoker

lol @ mcshane haters. Weird how people forget the two blocks he made when he came on, or the several headers he won from crosses.

He shielded the ball out... he was successful in that but an opportunistic opponant handled to keep the otherwise lost ball in play.

Also, weird how the mcshane haters give him grief for letting the ball bounce, but the other 5 irish players around were blameless.

not saying they'd have done better, but mcshane can be proud of his performance when he came on.

CHD

We get Trappatoni things start to look up.
We are written off, players aren't good enough.
We go unbeaten in a group with world champs.
We play France of the park in playoffs and go out to a extra time goal.

HUGE improvement from where we were 2 years ago and everyone should be very proud of the players tonight. We proved we can mix it up with the big boys!

Its depressing we are out.Roll on the Euro's

FearDark

Cheeky_gal wrote: »

This may seem like a very naive question but can anything actually be done about what happened tonight? Like a re-match or something? I'm not big into football at all btw but I like everyone else was genuinely upset for the players

Sorry but just curious if someone could answer that cheers

Absoultely nothing :mad: can be done.

We can complain to FIFA, who by the way is run by the French, the same people who also decided to seed the groups at the last second. Go onto the FIFA website, look at the 1000 word review of the match tonight and you wont find ONE mention of the handball tonight (its already been swept under the carpet). The French got through, FIFA, Sepp Blatter and Platini got their wish.

Thats what your up against.

x PyRo

I'm proud to be Irish.

Respect to the boys in green. Best performance since '02.

cooker3

I think we all need think back to that match at home to Cyprus 2 years ago. None of us would have ever envisioned anything like tonight. For that trap and his backroom team deserve a huge amount of respect and credit. I don't agree with every single decision he has made but overall the difference he has made is huge. He inherited a group devoid of confidence and slowly molded them into tonight world beaters.

As for the players. Outstanding, every single 1 of them. They totally outplayed a team in which likely every single player opposite would start ahead of them. A special mention goes to Whelan and Andrew. I have criticised those 2 as much as anyone else but tonight they were heroes. Best performance of an Irish team I have watched in 20 odd years of watching the team. It was an joy to watch.

ditpoker

cooker3 wrote: »

I think we all need think back to that match at home to Cyprus 2 years ago. None of us would have ever envisioned anything like tonight. For that trap and his backroom team deserve a huge amount of respect and credit. I don't agree with every single decision he has made but overall the difference he has made is huge. He inherited a group devoid of confidence and slowly molded them into tonight world beaters.

As for the players. Outstanding, every single 1 of them. They totally outplayed a team in which likely every single player opposite would start ahead of them. A special mention goes to Whelan and Andrew. I have criticised those 2 as much as anyone else but tonight they were heroes. Best performance of an Irish team I have watched in 20 odd years of watching the team. It was an joy to watch.

Andrews was superb. The midfield organisation from start to finish was the stuff coaching videos are based on. every time the ball broke to a french player, the midfield 4 were in a line about 30-35 yards from goal, every time, without exception, that is stuff that is drilled into a team in training sessions and thats where trap and co make a difference to several predecessors.

If trap stays on euro's are a dead cert.

CHD

ditpoker wrote:

If trap stays on euro's are a dead cert.

Dead cert? Hardly. If we are 2nd seeds it helps but theres alot of group stage draws that could be very tough to qualify from and we are unlikely to be seeded for any playoffs.

gosplan

Massive from all involved.

Irish pride has been restored.

CCCP^

Very proud of the lads last night, well done you did a nation proud, you were the real heroes.

Leiva

Well Done Lads !

My heart was filled with Pride Last Night but emptied with frustration this morning at the travesty that was .

You done every single man , woman and child proud last night , and gave every last ounce for your country .

Watch out Europe ,the clouds have cleared , Irish Football is Back !

Ole , Ole , Ole , Ole ...Ireland Ireland

WillieCocker

Robbed.
But still A player like Keane should have scored a chance like that, and he ****ed it up.
So in fact Robbie Keane lost us the match, the rest of the team were Superb and fully deserved the win.

thewools

Was deeply saddened last night - the lads played beyond themselves and really played for the crest on the jersey. The passion and workrate was phenomenal. I really felt for the lads when the final whistle went - every hurdle Ireland hit hard and knock them down....

FIFA tried their best to allow the bigger teams to progress and got their wish (bar Russia).

I wont blame the ref or the linesman as both had great games imo. They got one decision wrong... it HAPPENS!!!

Pity now the likes of Duff, Dunne, Given, Keane, Andrews, Kilbane wont get to experience another world cup campaign. Trap will now have to look at the youth and try and blood a few new players.

Hopefully now for the Euro campaign we continue to progress, improve and ultimately qualify.

General Zod

If there's a positive to be taken from this, it's that there were a few people out on the pitch last night that if we had lost fairly we probably wouldn't see in an irish shirt again.

This defeat may just give them a bit of hunger back again to get us to 2012.

chin up guys, the future is green!

kakee

Well done to the Irish team.

We have had along and difficult campaign and for it to end like this is sickening. Not many people gave us any chance when the draw was made, then FIFA changed the rules for the playoffs, then last night happened.

I was lucky enough to be in Croke Park last Saturday and I was satisfied that we could beat France in Paris, they are not that good at all.

If we play in the future qualifiers like we did last night we will never have to worry about a playoff again.

COME ON YE BOYS!!!!!!!

BraziliaNZ

tdv wrote: »

Great performance & nothing to show for it. Story of the Irish team.

Why are people saying these things? We're not f**king Brazil are we? Jesus what do you expect them to do? They couldn't POSSIBLY have played any better than they did, you should be proud.

DBraithwaite

Listen lads how far do ye expect that very average French team to go?

BraziliaNZ

DBraithwaite wrote: »

Listen lads how far do ye expect that very average French team to go?

who knows, they were written off in the last world cup and they nearly won it. They have the potential to be world champions for sure.

Mikeyt086

I was out in Dublin City Centre last night and the atmosphere was really good, obviously everyone was devestated, but there was a real pride about how our national team conducted themselves with the world watching.

Heroic performance.

mle1324

Same as the rest of you,gutted,but in the end we were the better team.

JerryHandbag

Well they certainly proved me wrong....not since Scotland in 1987 had we beaten a decent side competitively away from home. Just goes to show every record is there to be broken, I'm ignoring what happened in extra time, 90mins we beat them 1-0 and it really should have been 2 or 3-nil.

I hope the mindset from this is taken into the Euro qualifiers, because even though we are still 3rd seeds, the pot of 2nd seeds that were shown on Sky earlier do not scare me in the slightest.

I'm usually the first to sneer at celebrating glorious failures, but last night was certainly an exception. Well done Boys in Green, you did the nation proud.

SarahBM

I was so proud of the boys in green last night! Unlike a lot of my friends and family I was soooooo positive! I really believed we could do the business and come back after saturday and beat France. and fair play to the lads they didnt let us down! I have never gotten so worked up over a match before! and Im a Leeds fan so I know about ups and downs.
But the boys last night really came out fighting and I was so proud of them! it was a truely inspiring performance!!!

Well done lads! :D:D

grahamo

Gotta look on the bright side... Well Done Ireland!

A match programme at the game -EUR 8, match tickets- EUR50, flight home EUR100, watching Thierry O'Henry playing gaelic football - PRICELESS.