Kilbane adds to calls for replay
Ireland's Kevin Kilbane has called on FIFA to arrange a replay of last night's heart-breaking World Cup play-off with France, and has pilloried referee Martin Hansson for his explanation of events.
Kilbane told TalkSPORT this morning: “I’d like to think it would be replayed and I think everyone in the squad would like it replayed.
“You see for yourself he’s handballed it once and it’s still going out of play so he’s handled it again to make sure it doesn’t go out of play.
“I asked him on the pitch ’did you handball it?’ and he said, ’Yes, but I didn’t mean it’. But when I’ve seen the replay it’s there for all to see that we were let down. It’s a massive disappointment for us all here.
“I went over to the referee after the game had finished and I asked him what happened and if he’d seen the handball.
“He said ’I can 100% say it wasn’t handball’. When he said that to me I knew full well that he was just lying to me because he hadn’t even seen it.”
Hull defender Kilbane went on to describe how his side’s sense of injustice is only likely to increase as the build-up to the finals begins in earnest.
“It will be worse in a couple of week’s time when the draw is made. We’ll have to lift ourselves up again,” he said.
“We can hold our heads up high because we played so well and we should have won the game and that’s the ultimate disappointment.
“We played so well, but we can’t come back knowing we’re going to a World Cup in the summer.”
Burnley manager Owen Coyle, who played one international for the Republic in 1994, said he felt deflated after last night’s result.
“I’ve represented Ireland myself and I was genuinely gutted and disappointed for them,” he said.
“There is no doubt it clearly hit Thierry Henry’s hand, probably twice, and Ireland have come off the wrong side of that.
“I think there were so many bodies in the box it was difficult for the referee to see it and he was probably looking for some help from his assistant.
“I don’t think Henry has gone to purposely cheat but it has hit his hand and they have benefited from it.
“But you knew straight away from the Ireland players’ reaction and maybe that could have alerted the referee.
“It is always hard to take, particularly when there is a World Cup at stake, but there are always going to be mistakes and decisions missed.
“These things happen every weekend, whether it be a Sunday league game or an international match, that is just one of the things about football.
“That is one of the cruel things about football.”
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