France vs. Republic of Ireland: Score and Twitter Reaction from Euro 2016

France staged a stunning second-half comeback to book their place in the quarter-finals of Euro 2016 on Sunday, coming from 1-0 down to beat the Republic of Ireland 2-1 with two goals from Antoine Griezmann.

Norwich City's Robbie Brady opened the scoring from the penalty spot just two minutes into the match, and the Boys in Green went in at half-time looking good.

But France are tournament favourites for a reason, and within 16 minutes of the break, Didier Deschamps' men were ahead thanks to a well-taken brace by Griezmann.

Defender Shane Duffy was sent off in the 66th minute to all but end Ireland's chances of getting back into the match.

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In an open and exciting first half, fans had barely taken their seats before Ireland were handed a golden opportunity to take the lead.

The ball broke to the ever-impressive Shane Long in the France box, and when Paul Pogba clumsily bundled him over, referee Nicola Rizzoli did not hesitate in pointing to the penalty spot.

Brady, who scored Ireland's winner against Italy during the group stage, confidently stepped up and beat Hugo Lloris via the post, as ITV Football shared:

Martin O'Neill's men then set up to defend their lead and frustrate Les Bleus, and they did a good job of it.

The likes of Griezmann, Dimitri Payet and Olivier Giroud failed to make an impact as Ireland held firm.

In fact, it was Ireland who had the better chances in the opening 45 minutes. Long and Daryl Murphy caused all sorts of problems for the France defenders, while Ireland's defenders put their bodies on the line to keep their clean sheet.

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After being booed off by the Parc Olympique Lyonnais crowd, France came out for the second half looking a totally different team.

It didn't take long for Ireland's resistance to be broken, as Griezmann popped up in the right place at the right time to head the hosts level on 57 minutes.

Bacary Sagna's inch-perfect cross found the Atletico Madrid man unmarked 12 yards from goal, and he made no mistake with a bullet header, as shared by ITV Football:

Just a matter of minutes later, France completed the perfect turnaround, with Griezmann again demonstrating his lethal ability in front of goal.

A long ball was headed down brilliantly by Giroud into Griezmann's path, and he smartly finished past Darren Randolph to give France a lead they deserved. ITV Football shared the moment Irish hearts broke:

Ireland then tried to push for an equaliser with their Euro 2016 status hanging by a thread, but that proved to be their undoing.

In a quick counter-attack, Griezmann again charged through on goal, and Duffy took action by bringing him down. He was rightly given his marching orders.

It was a case of limiting the damage from then on, and France could well have found themselves out of sight if they'd been more clinical in front of goal. 

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Andre-Pierre Gignac's stunning effort struck the bar with Randolph beaten, and the Tigres forward squandered two further golden chances before the end with the goal at his mercy.

Ireland frequently pumped the ball into French territory to try to steal a late equaliser, but they never looked like breaching the hosts' organised back line, and France closed out the game with precious little fuss.

You can take nothing away from Ireland, who have been superb throughout Euro 2016, but they fell to a genius in Lyon. Journalist Liam Canning noted how big of a difference Griezmann made:

France progressed to the quarter-finals, where they'll meet the winner of Monday's clash between England and Iceland.

Les Bleus hadn't truly been tested in Euro 2016 until Ireland came to town, but they demonstrated exactly why they're tipped to go all the way with a resilient, gritty and champion-worthy performance.

Reaction

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Despite seeing their Euro 2016 dreams end, Ireland fans were in high spirits after Sunday's defeat. BBC Sport commentator Conor McNamara spoke of his pride:

Ireland captain Seamus Coleman, however, didn't share such enthusiasm. The Everton defender told BBC Sport he's bitterly disappointed with his nation's exit from the tournament and that they easily could have won the game: "We're just so disappointed at the moment. We felt like it was there for us today. We took a lot of belief from the Italy game. In the first half, we played well. The second half was always going to be tough. We just couldn't keep the door closed for long enough."