Fancy a French dressing-down?

BARELY two days in the French capital, and if I had a franc for every time I’ve heard an Irish voice proclaim that “there’s never been a better time to take on France in Paris“, I’d have, oh, about ten or eleven francs by now.

And a fat lot of good it would do me since the franc has long gone the same way as other French icons of fond memory, like Zidane, Thuram and Lizarazu. Their collective retirement is, after all, one of the main reasons for unaccustomed Irish confidence ahead of what was once deemed to be by far the toughest test of the World Cup qualifying group.

And still is, actually. For the record, I can think of much better times to take on the French in Paris. During the war, say, when they would have had other things on their mind. Or before the birth of Thierry Henry.