SOCCER: Qualification is not certain, but Republic of Ireland fans already have their highlight of the campaign - Paris in October. Emmet Malone rewinds
For the couple of weeks that preceded Ireland's World Cup qualifier at the Stade de France in early October, chaos seemed to engulf a French squad that only a few months earlier had travelled to Portugal as slight favourites to successfully defend their European Championship title.
Even before their hopelessly tame exit against Greece, though, the team's performances at Euro 2004 had suggested that their pre-tournament status with the bookies had been wildly off the mark.
But for the dramatic late revival against England, the trip would have been a complete humiliation, and a place in the quarter-finals fell far short of satisfying the French public, where the reaction hastened several former greats into retirement.
The fall-out was far from over when the Irish arrived. Israel had taken a point in Paris only a matter of weeks earlier and new coach Raymond Domenech was struggling in his battle to win the support of the team's dwindling number of established stars.
Almost a year previously, when the World Cup qualifying draw had been made in Stuttgart, France away was a game that most observers would have written off as they sought to asses Ireland's prospects in a group that appeared to boil down to a three-way battle for second place. But by the night of the game there were quite a few among the visiting supporters who believed that three points wasn't an unrealistic target.
One of the many symptoms of the disarray within the French camp was the number of Irish supporters in St Denis that Saturday night. The visitors had been entitled to one-tenth of the stadium's 80,000 seats, but the FAI ended up receiving more than twice that number, and close to another 10,000 Irish fans secured tickets through more improvised channels.
Problems with Irish mobile phones in Paris on the day meant that many struggled to meet before the game in order to exchange or collect tickets, so thousands were bought and sold in the hours leading up to the kick-off. Still, some 25,000 Irish were inside the glittering venue by the time Brian Kerr's side took to the field and there were clear echoes of the Giants Stadium game against Italy 10 years previously.
The performance they witnessed comfortably justified the trip. This wasn't a flawless display by the Irish, but it was a very good one with a healthy mix of spirit, discipline and enterprise ensuring that the visitors were well worth their 0-0 draw. They might even have taken all three points but for one of Fabien Barthez's very best performances for his country.
The former Manchester United player was the busier of the two goalkeepers despite the French centre halves, Gael Givet and Sebastien Squillaci, putting a poor spell of club form behind them and doing well.
At right back, William Gallas was also impressive for the locals, while the Arsenal pair Robert Pires and Thierry Henry had their moments, but neither was able to make the required impact on a game in which the Irish coped well in every department and completely controlled central midfield.
Kevin Kilbane was the real star there. The Everton player outshone the quietly effective but more subdued Roy Keane. He had promised much in the role before but this was the night he delivered, providing the impetus to almost every one of the team's serious moves forward and working at an almost frantic pace when the French were in possession and the ball needed to be retrieved.
Steve Finnan, Kenny Cunningham and, before he departed with an injury late in the first half, Clinton Morrison were among the other Irish players to do well, and between them the team managed a display that was, on balance, better than either the draw in Amsterdam three years earlier when Ireland squandered a 2-0 lead, or Lisbon, a month after the Dutch game, when Mick McCarthy's side had some fairly desperate defending to do before grabbing a point with a late equaliser.
Certainly the mood among the players was positive afterwards, with the likes of Kilbane, Shay Given and Damien Duff expressing considerable satisfaction with their night's work and Kerr confirming that both the display and the result marked a significant step in the right direction.
For the supporters, though, the night was a memorable success in itself. One of the those matches in which the Irish team manages to punch well above its weight and one of those occasions when those in the stands can believe, for even a couple of hours, that the Republic really are a major force to be reckoned with within the game.
Qualification is still likely to require a good result against the French in Dublin, as well as wins over Switzerland and Israel, but whatever happens during the year ahead Paris in October is still likely to prove the most enduring memory of the campaign for a place in Germany during the summer of 2006, while in terms of the year just finishing there's simply nothing to compare.
