- Ben Blake reports from Versailles
THE NUMBER OF French journalists attending Ireland press conferences has noticeably increased since Martin O’Neill’s side booked a meeting with the host nation at Euro 2016 on Wednesday night.
Yesterday, the Ireland boss was quizzed by one reporter about Thierry Henry’s controversial handball in the lead-up to France’s vital goal during the 2010 World Cup play-off in Paris.
And while O’Neill shrugged off the question, stating that we had “decided to forget about it”, the subject was again brought up by the French this afternoon when Shane Long, Daryl Murphy and Roy Keane took turns at the top table.
“The press are trying to make a big thing about this with ‘revenge’ and ‘Ireland are coming for revenge,’” said Long. “It’s not about that at all, it’s the last-16 of the Euros.
“It’s a massive opportunity for us as a small nation to really kick on. It will be a tough game but we’re approaching it like we do any other game. We’ll look at their team, their set-pieces, their individuals and put a plan together that sees us beat them.”
Former Auxerre manager Guy Roux has suggested the Irish players should watch the game in question back to gain inspiration, but Long was clearly eager to move on from the topic.
That’s seven years ago,” he added. “That’s forgotten about now. We were devastated at the time because it cost us a place in the finals. We don’t even think about that. Our focus is just on this game.
“We’re playing a very good French team on French soil. It’s going to be hard but we’re going to be right up for that challenge and maybe we can cause a bit of an upset. When it comes to that Henry handball, it’s not even in our minds.”
Keane was also asked a similar question, to which he bluntly responded: “We don’t have that mentality, revenge doesn’t come into it.”
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