The two sides will meet for the first time since the World Cup qualifying clash in 2009, in which the former Arsenal striker's controversial handball was followed by a William Gallas winner
COMMENT
More than most countries, Ireland is somewhere that history is ever-present in the collective consciousness. It is a country whose culture is built on writers and poets, which just this year marked the centenary of a failed attempt at independence. Irish history is full of narratives like Easter 1916: small but memorable triumphs scattered between long periods of disappointment and oppression.