One year on and Henry still has no pangs of guilt

JUST a few weeks shy of the one-year anniversary of one of the most painful nights in Irish sporting history, Thierry Henry has again insisted he feels no sorrow over his villainous hand ball in Paris.

November 18 will mark 12 months since the infamous World Cup qualifying play-off second leg at the Stade de France when the former Arsenal and Barcelona hero decided the fate of Giovanni Trapattoni’s side by twice using his hand to send Ireland crashing out.

The enigmatic frontman, who now plies his trade with the New York Red Bulls in the US’s Major League Soccer, has pointed an accusing finger at Ireland captain Robbie Keane, incorrectly arguing that it was also a year since the Ireland skipper won a dubious penalty during a group stage qualifying victory over Georgia.

‘‘I don’t even have to talk about that anymore. It’s part of the past,’’ said Henry.

‘‘It’s almost a year (since) that Robbie Keane got a penalty against Georgia that was never a penalty. Ireland won and nobody cried for Georgia.’’

In fact the incident he was referring to, when Keane won a spot kick against the eastern Europeans at Croke Park in a match Ireland went on to win 2-1, happened on February 11, 2009.

Henry continued to deny that he had any reason to feel ashamed over the handball: “‘That’s the way the game is sometimes,’’ he said in a piece for next week’s issue of TIME magazine. ‘‘You’re on the line, the ball’s going to pass you – unfortunately, it’s a bad reflex: you put out your hand. It goes your way sometimes, sometimes it doesn’t.’’

Meanwhile, ex-Republic of Ireland keeper Packie Bonner has compared controversial pundit Eamon Dunphy to ‘Judas’ in a new book to be launched next week.

Bonner hit out at Dunphy, who waged a bitter war of words with Ireland boss Jack Charlton in the early 1990s, a spat which reached a crescendo during Ireland’s World Cup campaign in 1994 in the US where the goal from Holland’s Wim Yonk ended Ireland’s interest.

“The ball moved in the air as he hit it and it was the worst moment in my life from a sporting point of view,” said Bonner.

“He threw me completely and the ball ended up in the back of the net.

“I am not ashamed to say I cried in the dressing room after the game and felt I had let everybody down.

“The first person I met was Eamon Dunphy. He gave me a big kiss.

“I couldn’t help thinking about Judas. Thank God he left me alone.”

Dunphy had been an outspoken critic of Jack Charlton’s, a public row which began four years earlier when the TV pundit described the team as a “disgrace” after a draw with Egypt.