The day before Ireland played France at Croke Park, Giovanni Trapattoni was asked about the 2006 World Cup final. "That was a game," he remarked, "decided on the little details." As he said this, Trapattoni winked and smiled. The little detail that night in Berlin was Zinedine Zidane's headbutt which was, most people in football are now agreed, missed by the referee but seen on a TV monitor by the fourth official who, unofficially and in contravention of the regulations, informed the referee. Zidane was sent off.

On Wednesday night in the Irish dressing room in Paris, Ireland's players wanted confirmation of another little detail that would soon become the biggest sports story of the year.

In the sound-proofed dressing-room, the players couldn't hear the half-hearted party the French were trying to throw outside. If anyone wanted to speak, they could make themselves heard but all there was was devastation and silence. Trapattoni was crying. "Do you want me to cry again?" he asked one journalist on Thursday, his eyes red and his energy gone after another extraordinary 24 hours in his life.

Nobody was discussing the forensics of defending the free-kick as Roy Keane might have wished. Instead, they waited until somebody produced a DVD of the game and those who had not seen it watched Henry's handball and erupted in anger. The silence was gone.

The mixed zone can often be a futile place to be but not on Wednesday night. Irish players who had performed bravely on the pitch now sought out Irish reporters. The team had found a voice again.

The men who had been outstanding on the field, who had grown in stature throughout this campaign, now wanted to share their pain. There may be some technically limited players in the Ireland side but there are several leaders. In fact, there was not one player who started the game in Paris who did not demonstrate immense character.

Richard Dunne, Robbie Keane, Shay Given, Damien Duff and Kevin Kilbane were among those who stopped to talk and try to come to terms with what had happened. Some like Dunne and Keane felt that Martin Hansson's failure to spot the handball was merely the final act in FIFA's plan to prevent the little guy from getting a chance at the World Cup. Kilbane was more considered. He just thought it was "outrageous", "disgraceful" and "the most blatant handball I've ever seen". Duff was bereft.

"I don't think I'll ever get over it. I'll probably be on my death bed and it will be one of the last things I think about. I had a sixth sense, he's going to give this, they want the big teams at the World Cup. You don't know what goes on behind the scenes. The people with power -- Platini, Blatter -- they'd rather have France there than Ireland there so it's not a hard decision.

"It's not fucking rocket science," he said, his voice cracking as he spoke "but, Jesus, there's a screen there, the whole world and his dog has seen it. It will take two seconds, it's in rugby union, rugby league. It doesn't stall the game. The size of the game tonight, it's a joke."

Nobody was laughing. By the time Giovanni Trapattoni had returned to Italy on Thursday night and taken a call from Jose Mourinho who rang to console him, his position had hardened.

In Dublin, he had spoken of the need for video replays, complained once more about the seeding and questioned the format of the play-offs. Maybe it was the conversation with Mourinho, a great conspiratorialist, but Trapattoni now had a simple message.

"There's this double handball from Henry on Gallas' goal and on top of that Squillaci was offside. It's murder.

"Even a blind man would have seen the double handball by Henry. The linesman was on line as the images show and he had perfect vision.

"I am certain that Hansson was in contact with the fourth official and to those who were looking at the images in slow motion.

"Why, when he understood that he had made a mistake, did he not change his mind? I think the time has come to have tv replays for these extreme cases. In 30 seconds you avoid colossal errors. FIFA has done a great job. For France v Ireland, you needed a top referee, instead they have sent a Hansson nobody."

If Hansson, as Trapattoni alleged, had been told by the fourth official at the time that there was a handball, then Ireland would have their stitch-up. The little details had gone against them and there would be no justice.

Hansson told Kilbane that the ball had hit Henry's chest, but there was some concern that the understandable frenzy confused the ref who thought they were claiming Gallas had handled it and that was what the linesman was asked about. All Ireland were left with was regret and a feeling that nothing would change the result unless the FFF agreed to a replay.

The FAI had found the French federation difficult to deal with long before the FAI felt they had a moral imperative to agree to a replay and protect the integrity of the game.

At one of the pre-match dinners in Dublin, French Football Federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes stood up and said "We know we'll win." An FAI official responded, "The last fella to say that was Dutch." This time, after a long process and with some soul-searching, Escalettes was right.

The Federation is viewed in France as the FAI is viewed in Ireland, although while the FAI may be criticised a little less in nearly every quarter since the appointment of Trapattoni, the continued employment of Raymond Domenech ensured the continued ridicule. If the FFF was running Irish football, Steve Staunton would still be manager.

Two years ago, Robbie Keane walked onto the Late, Late Show and made a plea for understanding as Staunton's time ended. He became tongue-tied and incoherent. The PR exercise was regarded as ill-advised, if it had been advised at all.

Keane has no need for pr gimmicks now. The Irish team which, with a few notable exceptions, is the same as the team Staunton managed, now is perceived completely differently.

Paris was the final act in that rehabilitation and it may have been aided by the heart-breaking nature of the defeat. In Paris, there was only one pr man.

There was a moment after the game on Wednesday night when Thierry Henry caught a glimpse of himself on the big screen and stopped celebrating as he had done wildly when William Gallas scored. He might have noticed that his face had appeared a lot, sensed that he had been rumbled and implemented his next plan: he sought out Richard Dunne for the photo opportunity that he hoped would salvage his reputation. No Irish footballer criticised Henry for the handball, only the referee for not seeing it, but while the hysteria built around him, Henry tried to play it all ways.

The feeling within the FAI yesterday was that if Henry had admitted the handball on Thursday and called for a replay, then the momentum would have become unstoppable. His statement on Friday may have been a pr exercise or it may have been act of contrition. Thierry Henry is not a cheat but he is a pr man and the suspicion remained that he felt it was too late to make any difference.

"The thing that shocked me most wasn't the handball," said Eric Cantona. "What shocked me most was that -- in front of the cameras -- he went and sat down next to an Irish player to console him when he had just 'fucked' him three minutes before. If I were Irish, he wouldn't have lasted three seconds."

However, it now appears that there was a movement behind Henry who had the backing of his French team-mates for the gesture but it was blocked by Domenech who knew he could not survive if France lost. The man who was seen as Ireland's best chance would ultimately be the one who prevented Ireland another chance at reaching South Africa.

The FAI knew from the moment their legal advice encouraged them to appeal for a replay that the only chance they had was if the French supported it. The people of France have lost enthusiasm for the French team and they never had any for the manager so the sense of shame grew around the team.

Those who said there were plenty similar incidents that were ignored or never led to replays were, of course, right, but sport is not the only arena in which some stories become more newsworthy than others. That's human nature and the FAI hoped that public opinion would force the FFF to agree to a replay.

Sepp Blatter, who is recovering from an operation which forced -- or allowed -- him to remain silent, would, the FAI felt, have been delighted to demonstrate the notion of fair play if the French had agreed. "It would have been the biggest game of football the world has ever seen," one FAI source said, perhaps getting a little carried away, although the story has been the talking point across the world since Wednesday night.

He would then have been able to demonstrate that he was not against Ireland, a small country which was showing the loudness of

its voice and the size of its Diaspora in ensuring this story remained news.

"I would like to know what have I done to Blatter?" Trapattoni asked. "If he explains it to me at least I would be calm. I often go to schools and speak of fair play. Perhaps I am a dreamer. FIFA has violated the rules imposing top-seeded teams in the play-offs. It's treachery."

Ireland, at least, could take some consolation that the team had not betrayed them. Trapattoni had restored the unity of the public and the players. The Irish people had watched in record numbers and seen the team give so much in what was probably the finest away performance since Ireland drew with England at Wembley in 1991.

On that night, Ireland missed the chances to record maybe their most famous victory. Instead they had only a draw which would ultimately deny Jack Charlton's strongest squad a place in the 1992 European Championships.

A couple of months after that Wembley performance, a young player made his debut and pushed Irish football towards higher standards.

On Friday, Roy Keane was back, holding to his principles, looking like the leader of a breakaway cell of hardliners, speaking from a rural safe house and questioning the heart of the moderates he had left behind. This was his spectacular.

There was a point behind the relentlessness of Keane's tirade. Ireland should have had the game won in 90 minutes in Paris. With every missed opportunity, there was the sense that in some way Ireland would pay for the failure to take those chances. In the moments before Henry's goal, Sidney Govou had a goal disallowed for offside and Anelka had dived looking for a penalty. France were increasing their presence in the Irish box and they were also increasing the pressure on the officials who had rightly favoured Ireland in those two decisions.

But they would not do it a third time and Ireland's World Cup caved in. Giovanni Trapattoni had restored the key values to the Irish side. Nobody could question the bravery and commitment of the side and Robbie Keane, who had his finest night for Ireland, would not need to go on to the Late, Late Show again to urge charity for his team.

Instead the FAI went global in the search for integrity and fair play. They were denied and Ireland was left with a sense of injustice. That, too, is one of Irish football's traditional values.

Sunday Independent