SWEEPING generalisations and football punditry go together like cheese and oatcakes, so it was no surprise when Sky's anchorman informed us "the Irish are born optimists" as the clock ticked down to kick-off at the Stade de France.

The trouble was, none of the actual Irish pundits seemed particularly optimistic as Stoke's Liam Lawrence and Glenn Whelan prepared to help their country tackle France's 1-0 lead from the first leg.

"Not enough creativity in the midfield" was the pre-match view on Five Live. The station's former Republic of Ireland international Jim Beglin doubted whether Whelan would have enough flair to hurt the French.

"He's honest and passionate though" added Beglin, making the Stoke midfielder sound like the blacksmith from a Mills and Boon novel who is about to have his missus swept away by Henri the smooth-talking perfume salesman.

Instead, Whelan and Lawrence helped the Irish produce a magnificent performance which would have earned a World Cup place were it not for wasteful finishing and the officials' failure to spot Thierry Henry's handball as he set up the 103rd-minute goal to level on the night and win the tie 2-1.

Whelan covered more ground in the 63 minutes before he was substituted for Manchester United's Darren Gibson than some of the opposition managed in 120.

Defending doggedly behind the ball one moment, he would break forward on lung-bursting off-the-ball runs into the French area when the Irish had possession.

Lawrence was superb on the right wing in his 106 minutes, before he was taken off for Celtic's Aiden McGeady.

Stoke fans won't have been surprised by his willingness to track back and help out his full back, but the French seemed taken aback by his attacking abilities judging by their complete failure to keep him out of the game.

His deadly cross from the right on 24 minutes brushed Kevin Doyle's fringe when any stronger connection would have found the net. Ireland should have scored more than Robbie Keane's 33rd-minute strike, and would have taken a 2-0 lead a minute after the break had John O'Shea not blazed over after he was picked out by Lawrence's pin-point free kick.

The Stoke winger was a toe-end away from connecting with Keane's cross to the back post on 51 minutes. The pair combined again on 73 minutes when Lawrence freed Keane in the area, but the striker overran the ball into touch after rounding the keeper.

Whelan and Lawrence will know they should be in the World Cup finals with Stoke team mate and Denmark keeper Thomas Sorensen.

Instead, they can only take limited satisfaction from giving France the fright of their lives.

After the game in Dublin, France midfielder Lassana Diarra allegedly told Ireland's Keith Andrews: "You're out, you Irish ****."

But there could be no complacency last night on the France bench.

Domenech had been guilty of winding up Lawrence, Whelan and the rest of the Irish side by describing them as the "England B team".

After this stirring performance, we English should be so lucky.