12.06.2016 03:40 h

Ireland return to scene of infamous Henry handball

The Euro 2016 match with Sweden at Stade de France on Monday offers the Republic of Ireland the chance to exorcise the ghost of one of the most notorious incidents in international football.

Thierry Henry's handball in extra time set up William Gallas for the decisive goal when France played Ireland in a World Cup qualifying play-off in November 2009. It sparked an international outcry.

Of the Ireland team that started that night, goalkeeper Shay Given, John O'Shea, Glenn Whelan and striker Robbie Keane all survived to make Martin O'Neill's squad for this European Championship. Aiden McGeady, who came off the bench, is also in France.

"Hopefully," said Given, now 40, when asked this week if his team were finally due a break at the Stade de France. "But it's not about looking back, it's about Sweden on Monday night and what happened is gone now.

"It's a fantastic stadium, with an amazing atmosphere when we did play there."

O'Shea, the former Manchester United centre-back still playing in the Premier League with Sunderland, also sought to draw a line under the events.

"Look, it's a different opposition this time, obviously," he said. "We are playing Sweden, we are not playing France -- yet -- so it's a case of we go, we deal with Sweden there, they are the first team up."

Nevertheless, Henry's handball will be on the minds of many of the Irish fans making their way to the Stade de France for the Group E encounter.

France had won the first leg of the play-off 1-0 in Dublin but Keane's first-half goal in Saint-Denis levelled the tie and forced extra time.

That was when Henry controlled the ball with his hand in the penalty area before squaring across goal for Gallas to score and secure Les Bleus' berth at the South Africa World Cup.

Henry later admitted his misdemeanour, and, with the stakes so high, the Irish demanded the match be replayed. That request was rejected by world governing body FIFA.

"The fairest solution would be to replay the game but it is not in my control," said Henry at the time.

Instead Football Association of Ireland (FAI) chief executive John Delaney later said his organisation received $5 million from FIFA, ostensibly to prevent them from pursuing legal action in the affair.

FIFA said the money was initially a "loan" for the building of a new stadium that they later wrote off after Ireland failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

This time they have qualified for a major tournament and fate has conspired to hand them a trip back to the Stade de France before they go on to face Belgium and Italy in their remaining group matches.