Revenge is not the motivation in France clash, says Shane Long

Shane Long has dismissed the idea that Ireland's motivation for Sunday's game in Lyon has anything to do with Thierry Henry and the events of November 2009, insisting instead that the players are intent here on making some sporting history for the country.

“No. What’s that, seven years ago?” he said in reply to one of several questions on the subject, mainly from local journalists. “It’s forgotten about now. We were obviously devastated at the time because it cost us a place in the World Cup finals but we are playing a very good French team now and we feel that we can cause a bit of an upset. When it comes to the Thierry Henry handball, it’s not even in our minds.

“Beating Italy was special and it wasn’t as if we just nicked a win. Every one of us will remember that game and I’m fairly close to Robbie (Brady) so I’m delighted for him but it (the game against France) is another a chance for us not to make this tournament a memorable one and we are not going to let that slip away.

“I don’t think that anyone expected to get out of the group and to do it with the way that we have done is up there with the best stories in Irish football. Now, if we can make it through again, it would something really special.”

The pictures of Brady embracing his fiancé in the crowd immediately after scoring rather brilliantly captured the joy and emotion of the moment but for Long, the opportunity to connect with his loved ones came after the game.

“Yeah, the moment for me was afterwards,” he says. “The Italians fans had all left but I went out and the Irish fans were still there singing and it took me a while to spot my family but when I did they were all crying too. That was pretty special.”

The aim now, he says, is go one better and emulate the team of 1990 by reaching the quarter-finals. On paper, it seems like another a tall order but Long looks back over the whole qualifying campaign and he can see plenty of reasons to believe.

“I think there were a lot of moments where we were up against it. We never make it easy for ourselves but we’re never out of it either. There was Aidan’s winner in Georgia, John O’Shea’s late equaliser in Germany and then my goal against Germany at home.

"I still think it's a very good French defence, a very good French team. It's going to be hard to break them down but we've got a few different options; we've got Murph, who tests defenders, has a killer left foot and is great under crosses, Robbie who is a goalscorer in and out and then I can maybe test them in behind. It's a bit of an ask for everyone to keep going until the 90th minute again but we have prepared well; Murph (Daryl Murphy who was sitting beside him) and I know now well what it's like in the Championship: Saturday Tuesday, Saturday Tuesday and we're all fit lads; we're coming off the backs of long seasons with our clubs, we're at peak fitness and we have everything we need here to help with our recovery."

Asked about the lack of tickets, he expressed sympathy for the fans who will miss out but insisted that those who make will make their presence felt. “I feel sorry for the Irish fans because we all know how good they’ve been how many have travelled so to only get such a small allocation of tickets is not fair but I’m sure they’ll still be out there getting tickets and forming little pockets in the stadium. There won’t the numbers that were there on Wednesday but even 5,000 of our fans will still make a lot of noise.”