One-by-one the Irish players and management staff have stepped forward to declare that Sunday’s last-16 game against France is a chance for them to make football history, rather than remember it.
That’s how they want the narrative of the build-up to go, but as much as they would like, it’s been almost impossible to escape Thierry Henry’s handball in that infamous World Cup qualifier in 2009.
There’s even a banner hanging in the hall where the FAI conducts its press conferences promoting the World Handball Championships, which will be held in France next January.
It sits above the FAI’s own posters of the players, which are emblazoned with the hashtag #makehistory.
The questions started in the immediate aftermath of the victory over Italy in Lille on Wednesday night and have continued unabated since.
It’s been the subject of magazine programmes on television, numerous headlines in the local media and French reporters’ questions at press conferences. It certainly seems the French are more hung up about it than the Irish.
"The press are trying to make a big thing about this with ‘Revenge’ and ‘Ireland are coming for revenge’," striker Shane Long declared.
"It’s not about that at all. It’s the last 16 of the Euros.
"It’s a massive opportunity for us as a small nation to really kick on. It’s a tough game but we’re approaching it like we do any other game.”
The legendary Auxerre coach Guy Roux, who is now a pundit on French television, has suggested that Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane should show the video of that incident to the players before Sunday’s game as extra motivation.
Long dismissed that suggestion and said they don’t need any extra motivation for a game of this magnitude – playing the host nation with a spot in the quarter-finals at stake.
For him, the players have enough to think about with the current French stars, rather wasting time worrying about Henry and William Gallas.
When the squad does sit down to look at videos, they won’t be from November 2009. Instead, they will watch the footage that analyst Ger Dunne has prepared on Payet, Griezmann and co.
Shane Long: Thierry Henry handball incident no longer relevant as France and Ireland do battle again #RTEsoccerhttps://t.co/m5X72s0slr
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 24, 2016
Long said: “We’ll look at their team, their set-pieces, their individuals and put a plan together that sees us beat them.
“That’s seven years ago. That’s forgotten about now. We were devastated at the time because it cost us a place in the finals. We don’t even think about that. Our focus is just on this game.
“We’re playing a very good French team on French soil. It’s going to be hard, but we’re going to be right up for that challenge and maybe we can cause a bit of an upset. When it comes to that Henry handball, it’s not even in our minds.”
Long and his team-mates returned to training at their base in Versailles this morning after taking a day off to recover from the exertions of the victory over Italy.
They only returned to their base at 5am on Thursday morning so that downtime gave them a chance to reflect on what they had achieved.
He said: "Yesterday, we had a day off and went for a few coffees and talked about the night before. It was an amazing performance.
“We didn’t just sit in. We really went out there and played football and outplayed them and deserved the win. It was a nice feeling and it keeps us going.
“That goal was amazing. I’m fairly close to Robbie (Brady) as well, so I was delighted for him. His family was crying in the crowd and he was in tears himself.
“The [best] moment for me was afterwards. I didn’t want to leave that pitch. All the Italian fans had left and the stadium was still full with our fans singing and dancing.
“It took me a while to spot my family in the crowd, but they were all in tears as well and that’s when I knew it was a fantastic performance.
“I don’t think anyone expected us to get out of the group. To do it that way is up there with some of the best moments in Irish football history, but we can really make it special now.”
The odds are against Ireland upsetting the hosts in front of almost 60,000 fans in Lyon, with only about 4,500 of those expected to be Irish, an unfair allocation according to Long.
However, assistant manager Keane suggested in his press conference that the pressure will be all on the French, just as it was back in 1998, when they needed a Golden Goal from Laurent Blanc to beat Paraguay in the last-16 of the World Cup.
“I feel sorry for Irish fans because we all know how good they have been out here, how many have travelled and how a special occasion it is for them as well,” said Long.
“To only get a small, small allocation of tickets for them is not fair, in my eyes. I know the FAI are working hard behind the scenes to try to rectify that.
“But I’m sure they will still be around and they’ll nick and get tickets somehow and get in little pockets in the stadium. Five thousand Irish fans will still make a lot of noise.”
As well the passionate home support, France also have the advantage of an extra three days’ rest as they played their final group game against Switzerland on Sunday.
For Long, that cannot be used as excuse as the Irish players have all best recovery treatments at their disposal, including a cryotherapy chamber.
He said: Myself and Murph (Daryl Murphy) know what it’s like in the championship. You play Saturday, Tuesday. Saturday-Tuesday. We’re well used to that sort of routine.
“I feel good personally and all the lads are the same. We have all the recovery here that we need. We have the cryotherapy, which is about -150 degrees for five minutes. Everything that we need is here for us to recover in the best possible way. We’ll be ready come Sunday.”
“We could be 3-0 up by that stage,” he joked when asked if he was concerned about France’s ability to score late goals.
“We’re all fit lads. We’ve all had long seasons and we’re at the peak of our fitness. It is an ask to play games so close to each other but we’re well prepared for it.
“We’re under no illusions. It’s going to be a hard game and we’re going to have to dig really deep to get the result, but it’s a chance for us to really make this tournament a memorable one and we’re not going to let that slip away.”
Watch live coverage of France v Republic of Ireland this Sunday on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player from 1.00pm. Irish language commentary will be available to RTÉ2 viewers on Saorview and Sky as well as on RTÉ Player. Listen to live coverage on RTÉ Radio 1 on Sunday Sport.
