14 years ago this Saturday, Thierry Henry used the control of his palm to set up the goal that ultimately ended up costing Ireland a place at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
It remains the most agonising moment in modern Irish football history, but Henry is not the only pantomime villain in the annals of footballing lore in this country.
In light of the anniversary of Henry's villainy in Paris, we've scoured our angriest memories from supporting the Irish team down through the years and compiled the list of what we believe to be the ten footballers most hated by Ireland football fans.
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The top ten most hated footballers to Irish football fans
10 - Toto Schillaci
You'll see 'Fuck Schillaci' t-shirts any time the Irish fans travel, you can be absolutely sure, so we had to include the man who managed to make the one purple-patch of his career coincide with breaking Irish hearts in Rome.
Ireland had reached the quarter-final of the 1990 FIFA World Cup, and one man was blamed for our elimination. In the years that have passed since, we have realised that he is actually quite a nice bloke, but still...
30 March 2009; Former Italian international Toto Schillaci and Ray Houghton enjoy an ice cream. Grafton Street, Dublin. Picture credit: Pat Murphy / SPORTSFILE
There he is sharing a Cornetto with Ray Houghton, suggesting that he doesn't belong on this list at all, but the fact that we're struggling for names suggests maybe we're not as bitter as we think we are.
9 - Peter Madsen
By far the least deserving member on this list, Danish striker Peter Madsen never did anything wrong in the eyes of Irish football fans, but when he was mistakenly introduced as Peter Lovenkrands, a Rangers player, by the Lansdowne Road announcer, he was booed all the way back to Denmark. He did play for (apparently) Rangers after all, an unforgivable offence for the match-going Irish fans at the time.
27 March 2002; Jason McAteer of Republic of Ireland in action against Peter Madsen of Denmark during the International Friendly match between Republic of Ireland and Denmark at Lansdowne Road in Dublin. Photo by David Maher/Sportsfile
In retrospect, it's a funny story, but it can't have felt good for Madsen to be booed with every touch and not having had the slightest clue as to why.
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8 - Jack Grealish
No, not the Galway hurler.
5 March 2014; Jack Grealish, Republic of Ireland, in action against Nemanja Gojacanin, Montenegro. UEFA Under 21 Championship Qualifier, Republic of Ireland v Montenegro, Tallaght Stadium, Tallaght, Co. Dublin. Picture credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach / SPORTSFILE
Grealish became a public enemy among Irish football fans when he decided to declare for England at senior level, having lined out for Ireland underage teams throughout his teenage years.
In Grealish's defence, he was always clear about keeping his options open and perhaps we should have expected that he would ultimately declare for England, but the fact that it was England that he defected to doesn't help his case, and he still remains a villain for most Irish fans.
7 - Eric Gerets
25 March 1981; Steve Heighway of Republic of Ireland in action against Eric Gerets of Belgium during the Fifa World Cup Group 2 Qualifying match between Belgium and Republic of Ireland at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile
If you don't already hate him, you absolutely should. The man responsible for one of the most criminal dives ever seen, which just so happened to rob Ireland of a place at the 1982 FIFA World Cup.
If you don't know about the situation, we gave it a breakdown right here.
The ref is as much to blame as Gerets, but this is about footballers, and if that dive happened today there would be a riot. He returned as manager for Morocco before a friendly against Ireland in 2010. We wonder if anyone in the FAI gave him a bit of stick. Hopefully so.
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6 - Lassana Diarra
14 November 2009; Richard Dunne, Republic of Ireland, with Bakary Sagna, no. 2 and Lassana Diarra, no. 6, France, at the end of the game. FIFA 2010 World Cup Qualifying Play-off 1st Leg, Republic of Ireland v France, Croke Park, Dublin. Picture credit: David Maher / SPORTSFILE
Of course, not the biggest villain to emerge from the 2010 World Cup play-off, but Diarra nonetheless got on the nerves of many Irish fans with his antics in Croke Park. Diarra strolled up to Keith Andrews after the final whistle in Dublin and muttered the words:
You're out, you Irish prick.
A shoving match was sparked, and Diarra's actions made the news with the unanimous opinion being that he himself was the prick in this situation. The prick.
5 - Peter Schmeichel
1 August 1994; Peter Schmeichel of Manchester United during the pre-season friendly match between Shelbourne and Manchester United at Tolka Park in Dublin. Photo by David Maher/Sportsfile
Irish Liverpool supporters probably hate him for his time at Manchester United, and a good chunk of Manchester United fans probably hate him too for defecting to Manchester City after departing Old Trafford.
Schmeichel turned every Irish fan against him in 2019, however, in the buildup to our 400th clash with Denmark of the 2010s. The Dane slated the style of football deployed by Ireland, saying "I have seen Ireland play and they are so bad."
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4 - Hakan Yakin
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September 2004; Steve Finnan, Republic of Ireland, in action against Hakan Yakin, Switzerland. FIFA 2006 World Cup Qualifier, Switzerland v Republic of Ireland, St. Jakob Park, Basle, Switzerland. Picture credit; David Maher / SPORTSFILEWe saw far too much of Switzerland between the years of 2002 and 2008, and their catalyst at the time was a man called Hakan Yakin. He looked like a Bond villain, he needed no invitation to go down easily, but most of all he was a very talented footballer who was involved in pretty much everything that hurt Ireland at that time. His name brings shivers to the spine of Irish football fans to this day.
3 - Dudu Aouate
4 June 2005; Kevin Kilbane, Republic of Ireland, goes face to face with Dudu Aouate, Israel. FIFA 2006 World Cup Qualifier, Republic of Ireland v Israel, Lansdowne Road, Dublin. Picture credit; Brian Lawless / SPORTSFILE
A far more deserving number one shout is Israel's goalkeeper from Brian Kerr's time as manager of the Ireland team. Aouate was a clown, a cheat, and an insufferable bollocks as he wasted every possible second he could to hold on to a draw at Lansdowne Road which would, in the end, prove costly in terms of qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Never forget.
2 - Declan Rice
In any other world, Rice would be number one. Unlike Jack Grealish, the West Ham midfielder actually lined out at senior level three times before defecting and joining up with Gareth Southgate's England side.
28 May 2018; Declan Rice of Republic of Ireland in action against Nabil Fekir of France during the International Friendly match between France and Republic of Ireland at Stade de France in Paris, France. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Not only that, but photographic evidence shows Rice holding the badge after an Ireland goal against the USA in 2018, and he was forced to apologise in 2019 after tweets resurfaced of him saying #upthera.
All that, to defect to England? Unforgivable.
1 - Thierry Henry
The easiest decision ever made. Whether you are still enraged any time you see Henry on TV, or you are over it and think the hatred is embarrassing, there's no arguing that he's public enemy number one.
Paris 2009 will forever be remembered as the most infamous wrong ever done against the Irish football team, and the fact that Henry was roundly booed by the Aviva Stadium crowd when he returned as Belgium assistant manager last year says it all. No other choice at #1.
The original version of this article was written by Mikey Traynor in 2016
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