Quinn: we have to ‘move on’ from Henry debacle

IRISH goalscoring legend Niall Quinn has added his voice to those who believe that it is now time for Irish football to put the ‘Hand Of Gaul’ firmly behind it and begin to look, with confidence, to the European Championship campaign.

“It’s now time to move on but I can completely understand the feelings of the FAI, the players, Ireland’s management and Irish fans,” the Sunderland chairman said.

However, Quinn believes the controversy arising out of the play-off game in Paris was badly handled by the French authorities.

“I felt it was right for the FAI speak up against what happened in Paris,” he said. “It would have been great to see the French Football Federation (FFF) make a genuine response on the issue.

“They were never going to offer a replay of the match but they could have made a more sympathetic statement in terms of how the Irish players and fans were feeling. Instead, they adopted a very legalistic stance.

“I’ve nothing bad to say about Thierry Henry or the referee but the French Federation could have been more human than to simply stonewall the situation.

‘‘It’s a bit like a fella knocking your grandmother down in the street and not saying anything. They could have said they were sorry.

“They could have been a bit more compassionate than to deafen us with their silence.”

Quinn believes the silver lining to Ireland’s of World Cup elimination is Giovanni Trapattoni’s men are now set for a successful European campaign.

“I believe the team is in very good shape and that it can look forward to the Euro 2012 campaign in confidence,” he said.

It’s a sentiment winger Aiden McGeady agrees wholeheartedly with.

“After coming so close to reaching the World Cup Finals we really should be qualifying for the European Championships,” said the Celtic man. “We finished second in a good World Cup group and ran France extremely close in the play-off.

“For the Euros, the top two teams go through so we have to make that step. We’ve grown under Giovanni Trapattoni, he’s been a revelation for us. When was the last time that an Ireland team finished unbeaten in a qualifying section? We had chances to win the group and have to build on that. We want to go to major finals and getting to the Euros is the next objective.”

McGeady admitted that it was only long after the moment had passed that he began to appreciate the full significance of the ‘Hand of Gaul’.

“At the time I saw everyone’s reaction and knew that something must have happened,” he said, “but it wasn’t until I got back home and watched it on television that it hit home what had happened and that we’d have to wait four years for a chance to get to the World Cup.

“I don’t think that you can just blame Henry, it’s up the referee to spot it. If he blows his whistle and awards the foul then it’s forgotten about, nobody would have mentioned the incident. Since then, everyone has commented on it. Some are criticising the referee, others are saying that we have to get on with it. It’s gone now and we don’t have any other option but to move on.

“It’s extremely disappointing because nobody wants to go out like that, but we did beat France over 90 minutes and we had chances before extra-time started. That’s disappointing but we have to take the positives from our campaign.”

* Niall Quinn was speaking in Drogheda where he was lending his support to the ‘Claret and Blue Club’, the latest fundraising venture aimed at securing the future of Drogheda United.