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• Full time A disappointing result after what was, at times, an encouraging performance. There's a bit of afters as Lasssana Diarra refuses to shake Andrews' hand. Dunne and Gourcuff get involved but the ruffians are eventually ushered inside. The crestfallen Irish team re-emerges to thank the crowd. All's not lost but it just got a lot more difficult. Thanks for the emails and for kindly not mentioning any typos. We'll be back on Wednesday.
• 90 min Two minutes of added time as Florent Malouda replaces Gignac. Whelan goes close again but Ireland are denied a corner after an offside Best tries to get a flick on his shot. Game over.
• 86 min Whelan shows some intent but shoots wide. He is then denied brilliantly by Lloris after Keane's flick from Best's pass finds him seven yards from goal. Best chance of the game gone abegging.
• 82 min Keane's pleading his case again but Abidal never really touched him. Desperate times for Les Verts (thanks Stephen) as the captain is then the guilty party for a clumsy challenge. By the way I'll try and get Anelka sorted on the scoreboard when I get a chance.
• 80 min Stephen Hunt on for Lawrence. Ireland need something from him because the French are threatening a second. St Ledger did well to deny Gignac and the latter shot badly wide with the goal at his mercy minutes later. Kilbane's backpass was woefully short.
• 75 min Ireland respond with a shot from Andrews but Lloris gathers comfortably. Aiden McGeady on for Damien Duff.
• 72 min GOAL!!! France are ahead. They've been threatening it, in fairness, but not like this. Not like this! Croker is silenced as Anelka's tame looking shot deflects off St Ledger and past Given.
• 67 min Got off the hook there. Herr Brych waves away Evra's claim of a trip by Given and on second glance the Frenchman had a strong case. That would have been a double whammy of a penalty and no Shay Given for the next game had it been awarded. The keeper's on a yellow card already. Come to think of it, so is Evra. Leon Best on for Doyle.
• "Greetings from a Sandbagged trailer in Baghdad. Thanks for keeping us in touch with the game!" - Thank you, Ivan in Baghdad.
• Steve says: "Following your updates from Newark airport where I'm in transit. What a time to be away from home! Tension is building with each click of the refresh button.." Nice to know we're making a difference.
• Martin, you've started a trend. Sabine in DCU cheekily suggests the lack of emails "either means all Irish geeks are at Croke Park or they are not interested in the game. I guess the first. From where I am (DCU) the atmosphere sounds phantastic and from where I'm watching (my living room) it looks like a great game. So far. Enjoy the rest of the game in Croke Park and for the team: Good luck for the 2nd half!" PH-fantastic. Controversial.
• 62 min: Given forced to tip Gignac's header over the bar but the striker was flagged offside. That was neat stuff from France and Anelka, in particular, who found his team-mate with a cheeky dink over the top.
• 57 min: Time to defend again for the home side as France get their feet on the ball. Corner off Kilbane. It's hit in search of Lassana Diarra but the Real Madrid can't connect with it. Keane clears the lines.
• Huzzah! Our first caller/mailer/wellwisher. "Greetings from Anfield. Looking good for us with some chances but need to put them away now France are vulnerable, but here's hoping we are not chasing the game by starting the second half slowly." - Well Martin, they seem to have wakened up a little, though Lassana Diarra's just struck a fierce volley wide of Given's post and Anelka tested the Donegal man. A little ragged again from Ireland.
• 52 min: Real danger for France as Duff wins a corner that Dunne gets his head on. O'Shea turns like an oil tanker to get in an attempt to shoot but directs it to the back post where Keane tries an overhead. That was somewhat scuffed too. The clearance though lands at Kilbane's feet and his strike is turned away yards from the line. Encouraging stuff!
• 48 min: Keane harshly flagged offside it seems, but Lloris looked to have been off his line quick enough anyhow.
• 46 min: Aannnnnd, we're back in the game. Another bright enough start by the French but Lawrence shows a cool head under pressure to clear the danger.
• Halftime: I do the great man a disservice. France are there for the taking apparently - the bunch of spoofers!
• Halftime: No emails from anyone. That's great, thanks. Feel free to mail comalley@irishtimes.com if you do have something to say. I'm off to hear how crap Dunphy thinks this performance is.
• 45 min: Little or no extra-time as Mr Brych brings the half to a close. Ireland can be happy enough wiwth that 45 minutes. Plenty of fight. There's a long way to go yet but if it stays like this one feels they'll be happy enough. France began well and threatened at times but they are not at their fluid best by any means.
• 44 min: Lawrence isn't getting on well with the German linesman on the far side as his cross is adjudged to have gone out of play. Characteristic hands in the air plea from Robbie in the middle.
• 40 min: Gourcuff is getting too much space as Ireland press forward but it matters not when he trips himself up with the ball.
• 37 min: The psy-ops maybe edging in Ireland's favour now after a showboating Anelka was caught in possession by Keane on the halfway line, but Henry offers a timely dose of reality as he bundles his way into the box and shoots narrowly wide.
• 34 min: Duff does well under pressure form Sagna to win the free-kick but he's not so lucky a minute or so later when he's adjudged to have gone down too easy under the challenge of Lassana Diarra. The long ball through to Gignac is snuffed out by Dunne.
• 31 min: Ireland have some mojo back and Doyle finds Andrews on the edge of the box but the Blackburn midfielder's attempt to curl it into the far corner is waved wide by Lloris.
• 27 min: Croker on it's feet as Keane is sent through from Doyle's flick and sees his shot defelected by Lloris into the path of Lawrence, who shoots wide from three yards. Goal kick given and the Stoke man is not happy. Probably a little embarrassed too.
• 24 min: A little scrappy from Ireland as Andrews gets caught out by Anelka and concedes the free. O'Shea clears well. Back in posession, Gourcuff has a go from 20 yards but straight at Given.
• 20 min: Mr Brych is in the bad books again for not calling a free in favour of Andrews after a clash of heads. The ball is put out of play. Bacary Sagna then goes down under a challenge from Duff and it's put out play again, this time by Doyle. It's all very civilised. Sort of.
• 16 min: Duff has a shot but it deflects off Doyle and out for a goal kick. At the other end, Anelka puts Gignac through but he's closed down by St Ledger and Kilbane. The corner is headed clear and hooked to safety by Duff. St Ledger a little too quick to go to ground there.
• 13 min: Doyle's low cross takes a nick off Sagna and for a brief moment threatens to catch Lloris at his near post, but no such luck for the Wolves man. At the other end Whelan tears into two tackles, first on Evra and then on Henry. Play on says Herr Brych.
• 11 min: Yikes! It's in the net from Gignac but the Toulouse striker was offside before he neatly clipped it over Given's head. Close call, but the right one.
• 9 min: A welcome period of posession for Ireland with some tidy footwork from Doyle, in particular.
• 7 min: Andrews gets stuck in again to howls of approval. This time fair and hard on Anelka.
• 5 min: France's first corner headed unhelpfully skywards by Kevin Kilbane and then gathered by Shay Given - the two men making their 101st appearances for Ireland tonight.
• 3 min: Croker not happy with German referee Felix Brych who waves away two appreals from Kevin Doyle. Keane tries to nip in behind William Gallas but Hugo Lloris is wise to it.
• 1 min: Damien Duff crunches into Bacary Sagna, followed by Keith Andrews' own imitation of a welcome for Yoann Gourcuff. France controlling the possession though.
• Game on: Ireland playing towards the Hill in the first half. The homeside huddles for a few words of wisdom from Captain Robbie.
• Pre-match: It's Croke Park. It's the Rep of Ireland v France. It's November. And it's freezing in the Hogan Stand! A perfect time, then, for the homeside to provide the warm, fuzzy feeling of a win over top-flight opposition for the first time since Jason McAteer's goal sent the Dutch packing from Lansdowne Road in 2001.
• The reward that night was an unseeded play-off against Iran. Tonight, we have one of football's more aristocratic sides as guests, courtesy of Fifa's startling display of favouritism at the last minute. Still, it gives us an opportunity for another moment like THIS.
• Okay, so instead of Roy Keane and Matt Holland, we have Glen Whelan and Keith Andrews, while Steve Staunton (the player) has been replaced by a man who first came to prominence on a reality show, but there are similarities. Shay Given, Richard Dunne, Kevin Kilbane, Robbie Keane and Damien Duff all started that day and lineout again tonight.
• On the other hand, the opposition have THIS guy in their ranks.
• The team news is that Giovanni Trapattoni has opted for Liam Lawrence instead of Aiden McGeady on the right, presumably in a bid yo keep things tight early on and possinbly introduce the Celtic man as an impact sub later in the game.
• The real nuggets of goss come from the French camp, where Jeremy Toulalan failed a late fitness test and Alou Diarra starts in his place. Rumours too of a bust up between captain Thierry Henry and coach Raymond Domenech, though given the popularity of the latter that might not consitute news. Henry starts regardless, with Andre-Pierre Gignac leading the line and Yoann Gourcuff pulling the strings. Chelsea's Nicolas Anelka starts too.
• The atmosphere in Croker is heating up courtesy of some uncharacteristically good tunes from the stadium team. The teams are out on the pitch for their warm-ups. The French all getting a feel for the ball and the Irish running around. Hopefully not a sign of things to come.
• Right, well the choons have gone downhill since the Daft Punk opener but the buzz remains. It turns out the green corrugated fan-type things provided in each seat by the FAI make quite the racket. "Welcome to hell, Patrice!"
• The French team is roundly booed by the home support as it is announced but the loudest display of derision is reserved for Domenech, who may, or may not, have said Ireland are like England Bs.
• In contrast, the roar that greets the mention of Trapattoni's name is deafening, and that from a stadium that is barely half full.
• The music situation is beyond a joke now. Is that the Jonas Brothers? No, Take That, apparently.
• The green "banners" provided to the fans are sponsored by the The Examiner, so enough about them...
• It should probably be pointed out that the French fans are doing their bit too. They get a bit of stick that lot but but they wave a good flag given the chance. They are separated from the Irish support by a handful of riot gardai, shields n'all, sitting menacingly atop Hill 16. Surely not.
• Ah, La Marseillaise! Is there a more infectious anthem? Not acccording to Croke Park there ain't. Sung with as much gusto by the Irish fans in north Dublin as it was at the Stade de France in 2004. Predictably, Amhran na bhFiann gets the same treatment.
• Rep of Ireland: Shay Given; John O'Shea, Richard Dunne, Sean St Ledger, Kevin Kilbane; Liam Lawrence, Keith Andrews, Glen Whelan, Damien Duff; Robbie Keane, Kevin Doyle
• France: Hugo Lloris; Bacary Sagna, William Gallas, Eric Abidal, Patrice Evra; Lassana Diarra, Alou Diarra; Yoann Gourcuff, Thierry Henry; Nicolas Anelka, Andre-Pierre Gignac.