Temperature rising in Paris as Ireland aim for 'big victory'

Stephen Kenny almost made it to the very end of the pre-match press conference at the Parc des Princes without having to hear about Thierry Henry's left hand.

But the obligatory reference to the now legendary 2009 handling of the football in the World Cup play-off between the two sides eventually reared its ugly head in the final question of the media briefing.

A measure of French guilt perhaps, still lingering in the consciousness of the natives, who would go on to have a hellish time at the tournament as the team refused to train following the Nicolas Anelka tete-a-tete with coach Raymond Domenech. France failed to win a game in South Africa and went out with one point from three group games played.

Kenny seemed to enjoy the moment of nostalgia involving controversy that had nothing to do with him, and while he said that it was no longer a motivation for the nation, he did ponder that assistants Keith Andrews or John O’Shea might have a different reply.

"It’s not something we use as a motivation as we have enough motivation to try and play a world class team like France," said Kenny. "Going to Paris to play them is a massive, massive motivation.

"My two assistant coaches Keith Andrews and John O’Shea were part of that squad and I think they remember it well."

The manager, to his credit, was upbeat throughout and appeared to be in much better form than you might expect following a week where he lost his main striker to injury.

The early September sunshine, perhaps, lifting the mood, and maybe even bringing back some form of ironic recollections from the start of the summer where the team spent nine days warm weather training for a game in Greece that turned out to be played in quite moderate temperatures.

But it will be warm in