There are no prizes for guessing what continues to occupy the columnists on Friday morning as the fall-out from Thierry Henry's handball continues. Those of you who have already seen said incident replayed over 100 times on Sky Sports News will have to bear with us...

The Football Association of Ireland have demanded that FIFA order a replay but Martin Samuel, writing in the Mail, presents the practical opposition to such a scenario. In 'It's so simple, let's force some honesty back into the game', Samuel argues that ceding to Ireland's request would open a real can of worms, not least for the poor journalists who will cruelly be sent to South Africa to cover the greatest competition on earth.

"Replay the game every year for the next century and each time it will need special circumstances for Ireland to win. In 15 matches, they have beaten France twice and the last occasion was 28 years ago. So there can be no consolation for Ireland this time.

"The demand that the match should be replayed is forlorn, too. How would that work anyway? Do we stick to the same teams to perfectly recreate the game of that night. If so, how long do we wait for Julien Escude, the French centre half injured in a collision with Patrice Evra? Without the same starting 22 it is not the same game. Yes, FIFA could grant dispensation, make this a special circumstance, but then on what grounds would they reject Russia’s request for a similar revisiting of the match in Slovenia, because the dismissal of striker Alexander Kerzhakov, just 21 minutes after coming on as a substitute, looked harsh?

"Indeed, on what grounds would they ignore the two dozen demands for replays in every round of World Cup matches? Some of us would like to get home from South Africa next summer. No, the solution is not to rewrite the rulebook midway through the competition, but to work to minimise the chance of this happening again.A predictable call for the use of video technology has resulted, but that is not the answer, either. The conundrum with video interruptions is how to restart fairly from open play."

The spotlight continues to shine on the villain of the piece, Henry, and James Lawton, writing in the Independent, presents a savage indictment of the three-time Footballer of the Year. In 'Henry has never been an angel. Now he is beyond redemption', Lawton examines how Henry's actions were not exactly a one-off.

"Irish football is entitled to believe it has never seen anything so cynical, so far removed from the spirit of sport, as the devilish hand played by Thierry Henry to deny Giovanni Trapattoni's team a place in the World Cup finals that would have been so thoroughly deserved. But then how do you draw up a ranking table of deceit when you know how far, how sickeningly, the list of precedents for Henry's action stretches back – and how feeble has been the reaction of the authorities?

"England will never forget Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" in Mexico in 1986 and Spain, who would be crowned as brilliant European Champions two years later, also have reason to reflect on a level of deceit that even now, three years after it happened in the last World Cup, makes the blood run cold and the senses revolt.

"This was also authored by the supremely elegant Henry, the player who for so many and for so long had been among the football angels for his exquisite talent and his philosophical panache.
Remember how it led to France's all-important second goal in the second-round match against Spain in Hanover, when Henry fell to the ground faking a head injury after a brush with defender Carlos Puyol? Henry won a decisive free-kick – and the less enviable reward of announcing himself a specialist cheat."