WORLD CUP QUALIFYING PLAY-OFF FIRST LEG Rep of Ireland 0 France 1: FIVE YEARS ago, Ireland's goalless draw in Paris was hailed as something of a triumph, the highlight of Brian Kerr's spell in charge of the international team and comfortably the best result achieved by the team since the win over The Netherlands at Lansdowne Road.

On Wednesday night, however, equalling it would not be nearly good enough if the Republic’s dream of securing a place at next summer’s World Cup is to be realised. In the wake of another French win in Dublin over the weekend, Giovanni Trapattoni’s side must finally beat a big team, and away, if they are to progress.

The scale of the task loomed large over Croke Park in the minutes after Saturday’s game. A sizeable portion of the 74,103-strong crowd stayed on for a while to show their appreciation of the effort put in by the Irish players but after Nicolas Anelka’s deflected goal, the sense of deflation was unmistakable.

After so many tame evenings at the place, the noise from the stands during the game had provided thunderous confirmation of just how much the crowd craved a victory. It wasn’t to be but, as the players wandered around the Croke Park pitch afterwards, for what may well be the last time, the fans made it clear that they did not feel cheated.

In short, the Irish were simply not good enough to take something from the game and while they came close to matching their opponents for the best part of an hour, the effort of doing so clearly took its toll through the closing stages when the gulf between the two sides steadily drew.

The goal itself had more than an element of good fortune to it with Anelka’s shot from the edge of the area taking a cruel touch off Seán St Ledger that left Shay Given helpless. The truth, however, is that the French were worth their win, having enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession and created a clear majority of the scoring chances.

Raymond Domenech’s men were denied a perfectly good penalty claim when Given brought down Patrice Evra and should have doubled their lead 10 minutes from time when an underhit Kevin Kilbane back pass left his goalkeeper scrambling to block at the feet of Thierry Henry from where he pushed the ball into the path of Andre Pierre Gignac who missed an almost open goal from an angle perhaps 15 yards out in rather spectacular fashion.

The Irish had a couple of serious chances themselves, the first involving a close-range shot by Liam Lawrence that flew wide off Evra after Robbie Keane’s initial strike had been blocked by Hugo Lloris and the second, a Glenn Whelan effort very late on that Lloris did well to turn away at the midfielder’s feet.

For the most part, though, Ireland’s energy was expended on trying to contain their opponents, sometimes right on the edge of their own area, where, somewhat alarmingly, the home side had found themselves camped through the opening 10 minutes, traditionally a strong spell for them over the course of this campaign.

The speed and strength of the French, however, had left the Ireland looking stretched pretty much from the outset. Their remarkable collective effort got them through for the bulk of the night and there were plenty of individual heroics with an early challenge by Damien Duff of all people setting the tone of the display.

Keith Andrews and Whelan threw themselves into everything in midfield again while Robbie Keane lent a hand in just about every department. The grand defensive effort came at a price, though, with just Kevin Doyle left up front to maintain an attacking presence so that when the Irish won possession and sought to break forward, they struggled to pose a meaningful threat.

A related problem was the team’s terrible lack of pace. Nobody, it seemed, had the burst of speed required to beat their man and Duff’s decline in this department was highlighted when, at one point, he produced a quite delightful touch to push the ball past Bacary Sagna only for the Arsenal right back to recover in plenty of time to block the Irishman’s attempted cross.

While much had been made beforehand of the threat that might be posed by the home side from set-pieces, there was little to shout about in this department either. The French coolly avoided the concession of any free kicks around their area and the majority of Ireland’s few corners were squandered. Still, there seemed hope for the home side as long as they were winning possession even if they did not generally keep it too long.

Through the first half that was often enough with Anelka, Lassana Diarra, Yoann Gourcuff and even Thierry Henry getting caught in possession by their bustling hosts.

As the second half wore on, however, the Irish visibly tired and the game began to slip away from them. None of the three substitutes did terribly well out wide or up front but more importantly the team’s workhorses began to struggle, as when Whelan failed to connect with a challenge on Henry that he would have comfortably made a half an hour earlier.

As they started to become pinned back, a French goal seemed increasingly likely and yet it clearly stunned the crowd when it came for St Ledger had looked to be in a good position to deny Anelka a clear sight of the target.

The defender might feel he should have done better with his attempt to block the shot but tiredness was probably a factor on this occasion too with the 24-year-old, like Richard Dunne and the rest of the defence, having worked incredibly hard to keep the side in contention until then.

There was, in short, no reason for any of the Irish players to feel at all embarrassed by their performance. Sadly, there was no great basis either for the rest of us to feel all that encouraged ahead of the return game on Wednesday.

REP OF IRELAND: Given (Manchester City); O'Shea (Manchester United), St Ledger (Middlesbrough), Dunne (Aston Villa), Kilbane (Hull City); Lawrence (Stoke City), Whelan (Stoke City), Andrews (Blackburn Rovers), Duff (Fulham); Doyle (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Keane (Tottenham Hotspur). Substitutions: Best (Coventry City) for Doyle (71 mins), McGeady (Celtic) for Duff (76 mins), Hunt (Hull City) for Lawrence (80 mins).

FRANCE: Lloris (Lyon); Sagna (Arsenal), Gallas (Arsenal), Abidal (Barcelona), Evra (Manchester United); L Diarra (Real Madrid), A Diarra (Bordeaux); Anelka (Chelsea), Gourcuff (Bordeaux), Henry (Barcelona); Gignac (Toulouse). Substitutions: Malouda (Chelsea) for Gignac (91 mins).

Referee: Felix Brych(Germany)

Attendance: 74,103