How Henry handed Doyle day to remember

FROM the Hand of Gaul to a hand in marriage, Ireland’s World Cup exit has proved to be the proverbial ill-wind for Kevin Doyle.

“I’m getting married in the summer now so I can thank Thierry Henry for that,” says the Wolves and Ireland striker with a smile. Before the play-off against France in Paris, Doyle and his girlfriend Jenny Harney were planning to get hitched next year but, after the French striker’s illegal intervention, a longer summer break than he’d hoped for now beckons for Doyle and so the couple have brought forward their nuptials to a June date in Limerick.

Meantime, the Wexford man continues to live with the fall-out from one of the most controversial episodes in Irish football history although, after all the hysteria of recent months, he has a refreshingly candid and non-judgmental take on Henry’s infamous hand ball.