ANELKA'S CRUEL WINNER BOOSTS FRANCE

IT took Giovanni Trapattoni 18 months to build a team and a dream - and just 90 minutes for France to destroy both.

With a performance which outlined their technical excellence, Raymond Domenech - sorry, Thierry Henry's - men grabbed a crucial away goal to effectively kill this tie at the halfway stage.

Sure, there are 90, and perhaps 120, minutes still to play but history and Henry are against Ireland.

And while it is possible to overcome one of these obstacles, two is too much.

Twenty-two years have passed since Ireland last beat a team of significance on their own patch in a competitive international - and then they did it with men like McGrath, Lawrenson, Whelan, Brady and Stapleton.

This current generation may match that one for heart - but not class. Last night that belonged to Henry, Andre-Pierre Gignac and the goalscorer, Nicolas Anelka.

For this was a victory for craft over graft, skill over spirit, individual brilliance over honest teamwork.

What is most disappointing of all is how deflating an experience it was for the 74,103 fans who created such a thunderous atmosphere at the start of last night's game ensuring the French knew it was not just a team they were taking on but a national cause.

Yet, unfortunately, even though there were more than 68,000 Irishmen in the ground, only 11 were allowed onto the pitch when truthfully, we could have done with more.

Still, for all Ireland's technical shortcomings - they can take pride in their effort.

Right from the start the strength and the weakness of this Irish side was apparent in the way Trap set his men up - telling his midfielders to abandon their attacking responsibilities and provide their defence with fresh resources.

But while this strategy was effective in negating France's attacking threat it was a policy which carried nasty side-effects.

For a start, Damien Duff and Liam Lawrence's relocation from wide midfield into auxiliary full-back positions deprived the Irish defence with a meaningful outlet.

So too did Keith Andrews and Glenn Whelan's close proximity to centre-backs Richard Dunne and Sean St Ledger.

As a result, Dunne and John O'Shea - the two men carrying the burden of initiating Irish attacks - were left with little option but to thump the ball long and pray it arrived somewhere near Kevin Doyle and Robbie Keane.

And guess what? It rarely did. And guess what else? The French swept up possession and started attack after attack, gaining complete control of the territorial stakes.

That's not to say the visitors got everything their own way because the truth is they were meeting a side whose tactical maturity is unrecognisable from the Steve Staunton era.

Scraps

Patience is the byword of this team now - and even though they were living off scraps in attack it was still possible to admire the way France's playmaker, Yoann Gourcuff, was unable to get on the ball because of Andrews' defensive shadowing.

Yet the lack of a natural ball-player, or a midfielder with the movement and poise to find space in congested areas, meant our build-up play lacked structure or direction.

DUNNE: Head-to-head with Diarra

Still, the hosts managed to conjure up a couple of first-half chances, the first coming on 27 minutes when Shay Given's free-kick landed inside the French penalty area after Alou Diarra missed his clearing header. Following up, Keane got a touch to the ball, directing it into Lawrence's path, whose subsequent shot, from 10 yards, was deflected wide when scoring seemed the easier option.

Still, that chance served to lift Irish hearts and within four minutes they had another opening, created this time from Whelan, whose sharp delivery to Keane caught the French defence unawares.

Spotting the opportunity to press forward, Keane slipped the ball left to Doyle before dragging William Gallas away from the Wolves attacker by angling his run to the right-hand-side of the French penalty area.

As Doyle held off Eric Abidal, Andrews arrived to offer his support, receiving possession off Doyle, before curling a 20-yard-effort to the left of Hugo Lloris' goal.

In between this, France had a couple of chances of their own the first of which saw Andre-Pierre Gignac find the back of Shay Given's net following a mistake by Richard Dunne only for the goal to be disallowed for offside.

Thierry Henry was onside, though, when he robbed the ball off Andrews deep inside the Irish half six minutes before the break, before he weaved into the box where he poked a shot wide.

The second half took on a different pattern.

This time the French increased the tempo of their play, attacking with greater pace, moving Henry and Anelka in from the flanks to central areas, which allowed the full-backs, Sagna and Evra to push forward.

And so, Ireland were pinned into their own half incapable of mounting an attack because of their inability to keep the ball.

It showed in the number of chances, too. Alou Diarra had a long-range effort drift wide in the 54th minute, Evra had a penalty claim turned down shortly afterwards and Gignac's header was saved by Given.

Then, on 73 minutes, came the decisive moment when Gourguff fed Gignac who in turn played in Anelka.

From the edge of the area, the Chelsea striker's shot took a wicked deflection off St Ledger and then bounced in off a post.

In response, Whelan nearly grabbed an equaliser but Lloris saved. They now have a 1-0 lead to defend.

Will it be enough? Oui will have to wait and see.

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