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Nine Years After Henry's Handball, Ireland Will Return To Paris

Arthur James O'Dea
By Arthur James O'Dea
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If you thought the wait for Ireland's next competitive fixture was going to be long, mark off May 28th in the diary - we're going back to the Stade de France. 

With France using the fixture as a tune-up before embarking upon their World Cup journey, Ireland will return to Paris for the first time since ... the incident.

While Ireland came out on the wrong side of a 2-1 in last year's European Championships against the host nation, France, that match took place in Lille.

A nation that we do have a long history of facing off against, next summer's tie will be the 17th meeting between Ireland and France.

Yet, the most infamous of these meetings is likely to dominate proceedings before May's "friendly" in Paris.

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In 2009, with Giovanni Trapattoni's Ireland performing valiantly and looking on course to push their World Cup playoff opponents much further than many outsiders would have expected, the hand of Thierry Henry undid everything.

Causing a furore that would last well beyond the event itself, Ireland have as yet to return to Paris to etch out some kind of recompense.

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With the exception of Aidan McGeady - and that is a mightily big exception -  and perhaps Glenn Whelan, none of the players involved in May 2018 are likely to have featured at all in the great robbery of 2009.

McGeady came off the bench that night, and, although all good sense would suggest he should be nowhere near contention in May, Martin O'Neill's fondness for the former Celtic man could see him play a part.

The fixture will offer Ireland some idea of where they stand before the beginning of the UEFA Nations League in September 2018.

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Yet, with some people still uncertain whether to forgive Henry for his heinous crimes, you will only have to wait until May for our next "competitive" tie.

See Also: Watch: Young Irish Striker Scores 18-Minute Hat-trick In FA Youth Cup

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