The hand of Henry

After tonight's game that saw Republic of Ireland fail to qualify for the World Cup next summer losing on aggregate 2-1 thanks to a great peice of handling play by Thierry Henry, who's reputation as one of the best strikers in the world is sure to be heavily tarnished.

Personally I am struggling to come to terms with the incident, not as an Irish fan, not as a passionate football fan or as an Henry hater but as someone who is a firm believer in fair play and sportsmanship.

The Vince Lombardi ethic of 'winning at all costs' is certainly the mindset Henry took on board when he touched then patted down the ball before passing for Gallas to head in. While accepting that footballers sometimes handle the ball as an instinctive response and throughout the post match coverage hearing the phrase 'other players would have done the same', which may or may not be true and cannot be proved, it questions the integrity of professional footballers.

Thierry Henry could have stopped - turned to the referee and simply said, 'sorry ref handball there, no goal'. But as he turned and headed for the stands it was clear with his celebrations the thought of owning up to the crime he had committed hadn't even crossed his mind.

The impact of the winning goal aided by the hand of Henry is huge - it's sent a team that didn't deserve to qualify through but has also destroyed the dreams of the Irish players of playing in the World Cup.

The goal will also once again spark the on-going debate on the need for video technology in the game for decisions such as the one that presented itself tonight.

Defender Sean St Ledger said: "Now is the time to use them it's costing a lot of people their dreams. As a boy I wanted to play in the World Cup and the other boys are the same."

I am very intrigued to listen to what Henry will have to say for himself as I'd imagine are many others. I suspect he will deny the act of cheating but with such an obvious example he may own up.

If he admits to his action then it will merely be for the sake of his public image because if it were an act of honesty and fair play then he would have done it at the time. The admittance and dare I say perhaps proposed apology is sure to come across as an insult to Irish fans.

The hand of Henry will be compared to the infamous Hand of God by Diego Maradona to knock England out of the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal under the great Sir Bobby Robson and as someone of only 19 years of age I cannot imagine what my immediate reaction would have been if I had been alive to see it.