FROM THE ARCHIVES/WORLD CUP THE IRISH TIMES, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16th, 1981/Republic of Ireland 3 France 2: PETER BYRNEreports on a famous victory at Lansdowne Road which, at the time, looked like it had probably secured a place for Ireland in the 1982 World Cup finals in Spain/

THE REPUBLIC of Ireland, merely stationed along the routes of other teams' ambition for much of their history in international football, are this morning confirmed as credible World Cup challengers. A performance which excited and agitated, attracted and exasperated, a crowd of 52,000 at Lansdowne Road yesterday eventually extracted two precious points from France and began the countdown for the longest vigil any of us are likely to know in Irish sport.

Not until France have completed their programme with home games against Holland and Cyprus - the latter fixture in December - will Ireland's prospects of going to the World Cup finals in Spain next summer be determined. And given the prevailing mood of expectancy, it threatens to be an interminably long wait.

For the moment we must content ourselves in savouring the high points of yesterday's chequered display when France lay broken and a depleted Irish team, prospering in the tumult, swept in for the goals which avenged our defeat in Paris 12 months ago.

With Ireland leading 3-1 at the break, the crowd, almost to a person, rose in acclamation of some superb passages of play, and the speculation then was not so much of a win as of the margin which would separate the teams at the finish and boost our goal difference in the Group II table.

Sadly, the explosive finish never materialised, and France, reborn, came back to plunder a second goal and almost a third as the Irishmen, by now almost out on their feet, attempted to come to terms with the high improbability of it all.

From a position in which Ireland luxuriated in their unaccustomed affluence, the visitors were producing all the master shots at the end, and if the Irish eventually aspire to their goal of a place in the Spanish sun next summer they can thank the nimble reflexes of Jim McDonagh.

There were just 45 seconds left when Couriol's cross plotted a devious path through the Irish defence to fall obligingly at the feet of Didier Six just two yards out. Fifty-thousand people held their breath as the veteran French forward prepared to administer the final indignity, but in a moment he will treasure for the rest of his life McDonagh smothered the shot at his right-hand upright.

That Ireland's survival should come down to that remarkable save was, in many respects, incredible. Stringing passes together with a fluency which riddled the French defence, the home team were frequently exhilarating in the opening half.

Then the French manager, Michel Hidalgo, in a decision which smacked of the gambler's last throw, pushed Michel Platini into the front line, recalled Six from the substitutes bench and in that double-move lit the fuse for an assault that was to come within inches of depriving the Irish of a celebrated success.

The tension of those late, dramatic minutes was to find a joyous outlet in the last shrill blast of the referee's whistle, but it had been a desperately close-run thing. Nobody took the point better than (manager) Eoin Hand.

"My heart was in my mouth in those last few minutes, but we've had so much bad luck in this competition that I reckoned we were due at least one favourable break of the ball," he said.

On a day demanding of bravery and skill, none answered the challenge more willingly than the two Irish strikers, Frank Stapleton and Michael Robinson. And if that belated French charge tended to distort much of what had gone before, the element of validity in a wildly fluctuating game was established in the fact that this pair were responsible for all three Irish goals.

Stapleton, on his 25th international appearance, was quite magnificent in a performance which embodied all the classic attributes of a centre forward, and, alongside him, Robinson tore at the very heart of the French resistance with his pace and competitiveness in the air. Between them, they hustled the visitors into their first grievous error in the fifth minute.

Ronnie Whelan, winning the ball in the tackle with Janvion, created the initial chance, and when Robinson took on and beat Lopez to reach the back line, the French were already lurching towards disaster. The cross, struck at speed, invited the fatal touch, and as Stapleton converged Mahut was to experience the agony of knocking the ball into his own net.

Castaneda's startled look, as the net billowed behind him, portrayed more vividly than words the dimensions of the French dilemma; and yet, within another four minutes they had conjured up an equaliser which reduced the stadium to almost total silence.

Couriol, superb in short, sharp bursts, enticed the home defence into the first error and the youthful Bellone, in a moment which matched his extravagant rating in French football, turned past Kevin Moran and David Langan to hit the shot with total conviction into the Irish net from just outside the penalty area.

For the next few minutes the Irishmen were in disarray, and Bossis, at the end of a long, penetrating run, saw his shot rebound out of McDonagh's arms fortuitously into the path of Langan.

But the goal which might have twisted the steel in Ireland's back was denied to the French in the 20th minute with Platini, tracing a triangle in an exquisite, one-two movement with Larios, saw his cross beat McDonagh, only to miss the target by inches.

Ireland's composure gradually returned, and as David O'Leary, in his finest international performance in more than a year, took control of the penalty area, the horizons widened to a second goal in the 24th minute.

O'Leary's stealth took him into the ideal position on the opposite side of the penalty area when Mick Martin projected the cross, and the centre half, eschewing the shot from the narrow angle, turned the ball back for Stapleton to score.

Within another minute Ronnie Whelan had almost contrived a third score. Running strongly to make contact with Moran's clearance, Whelan looked up to see Castaneda already off his line, but the shot, swerving in the air, just clipped the top of the crossbar.

The Irish deserved a goal in that instance, but, five minutes before half-time, the scales of justice balanced out. Janvion, suffering more than most in France's torment, directed a dreadful pass in the general direction of Girard, and Robinson could scarcely believe his good luck as he made the simple interception to go in and beat Castaneda.

In the event, that was the limit of Ireland's scoring achievements, but there were to be at least three feasible chances subsequently with Stapleton sweeping the ball narrowly wide from the edge of the penalty area in the 52nd minute, and Robinson and Whelan both failing in situations in which the French defence was exposed in the last quarter of an hour.

At the opposite end of the ground, the action was only beginning, however, and as Platini threw extra pressure on the home defence, there were two hair-raising escapes when O'Leary smothered a shot from Platini and Larios, almost on the line, was foiled by McDonagh.

In that kind of situation a second French goal was always in prospect, and it duly materialised in the 82nd minute to set the scene for that taut, tindery finish.

Six and Janvion combined to unhinge the Irish defence down the right flank, and when Hughton failed to scramble the ball away Platini was left with the simple task of driving the ball into an empty net.

The late collapse rubbed at least some of the sheen from Ireland's earlier brilliance, but it could not disguise the merit of some outstanding individual performances in the home team.

Heading the honours list were, of course, Stapleton and Robinson, and if Stapleton, utterly unsparing in his efforts to chase and hold the ball for the support to arrive, was supreme on the day, Robinson's contribution suffered only marginally by contrast.

There was, too, the encouragement of an impeccable display by O'Leary at the heart of the defence. The big Arsenal man chose this as the occasion to silence doubts about his decline in form and, after a couple of uncertain moments early on, he recovered to exert total control in the air.

Moran, seldom straying beyond the limits of discretion, complemented O'Leary perfectly, and at full back both Langan and Hughton knew some exciting times. Langan, occasionally quite ferocious in the tackle, was saddled with the bigger challenge, first against Bellone and later Six, but in the end he emerged from the ordeal with credit.

With Platini withdrawn from the left side of midfield in the second half, McDonagh's distribution of the ball was devastatingly accurate in releasing Whelan on some good runs, and the Bolton man topped it off with that priceless, last-minute save when all around him were floundering.

Much of the pre-match speculation centred on the performances of the Irish midfield line in the wake of the withdrawal of Gerry Daly and Tony Grealish. Undeniably, both men were missed, and yet Whelan still found the skill and the confidence in this, his first full international game, to run Larios close as the outstanding player in this area.

Lawrenson never made the transition from defender to midfielder with any degree of success.

Martin compensated for some indifferent spells by winning vital duels.

But, sadly, the enigma of Liam Brady survives. On occasions, Brady filled the bill as a world-class player, but more often than not he found himself pinned down by sheer weight of numbers.

Such is the price of fame, and an unhappy afternoon for the Irish captain was crowned when he was booked for a foul on Larios in the second half. With one yellow card offence already standing against his name, it means he is automatically suspended for Ireland's next Fifa game.

No less than the rest of us caught up in the plot of a rich, absorbing drama, he will be hoping that it becomes operative in Spain next July!

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: McDonagh (Bolton); Langan (Birmingham), O'Leary (Arsenal), Moran (Manchester Utd), Hughton (Tottenham); Whelan (Liverpool), Martin (Newcastle), Lawrenson (Brighton), Brady (Juventus); Stapleton (Manchester Utd), Robinson (Brighton). Substitute: Givens (Newcastle) for Stapleton (87 mins).

FRANCE: Castaneda; Janvion, Mahut, Lopez, Bossis; Christophe, Girard, Larios, Platini; Couriol, Bellone.