DUBLIN — Ireland appealed to France and soccer authorities Thursday to replay their World Cup playoff in Paris after an obvious handball by Thierry Henry produced the winning goal.

Ireland's government and opposition leaders united in demands for Wednesday's 1-1 draw in France to be replayed, and the country's soccer federation said it is considering a protest.

In extra time, Henry twice handled the ball to prevent it going out of play, then passed to William Gallas in the Irish box for the deciding goal.

France advanced to next year's World Cup finals in South Africa with a 2-1 aggregate score. At the time of Henry's unpunished handball, the match was 17 minutes from reaching a penalty shootout.

"If that result remains, it reinforces the view that if you cheat you will win," said Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern — who also pointed out that two French players appeared to be offsides on a free kick that preceded the goal.

"Millions of people worldwide saw it was a blatant double handball, not to mention a double offside," Ahern said. "We should put the powers that be in the cozy world of FIFA on the spot and demand a replay."

The Football Association of Ireland said it was still mulling whether to protest. But Irish assistant manager Liam Brady and several players appealed to France's sense of honor.

"If the game's going to survive, it's got to be an equal playing field," Brady said. "If we're going to have integrity and dignity in the world game, the game should be replayed. And we'll go to Paris to play it."

Some Irish players accused Henry of lying when he told them that his handball had been accidental and instinctive, and criticized Swedish referee Martin Hansson for missing the infraction.

Irish left back Kevin Kilbane said replays showed conclusively that Henry "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.'"

Kilbane said he also asked Hansson after the final whistle if he had seen the incident.

"He said: 'I can 100 percent 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."

Irish lawmaker Joe McHugh said France should follow the 1999 precedent set by Arsenal's French manager, Arsene Wenger, who volunteered to replay a match in England's FA Cup after Arsenal won on an unfair goal.

"Throughout the country today there is an air of bitterness. We were beaten unfairly and there is general disgust in France too," McHugh said. "Friends of mine who attended last night's game phoned me this morning from a cafe in Paris to report that the French people are ashamed and do not regard this as an honest victory."

Several Irish players were in tears after Wednesday's match and rued their own missed scoring chances after outplaying France for much of the night.

"We got robbed. ... We feel cheated. We were the better team," said Irish defender Sean St. Ledger.

Ahern said he doubted that soccer's world governing body FIFA would sanction a replay. He reflected the widespread Irish view that the sport's powers were biased in favor of ensuring France's qualification.

"They probably won't grant it as we are minnows in world football," Ahern said, "but let's put them on the spot anyway."