The 30-year-old winger turned in a fine individual display in Paris as Giovanni Trapattoni's men very nearly pulled off a major shock to reach next summer's finals in South Africa.

However, William Gallas' controversial extra-time winner, which came after Thierry Henry had twice handled the ball, left the Irish in despair as France edged through.

Duff said: "The whole world has seen what happened, every man and his dog.

"I don't know what's going on behind the scenes, it's just a joke. The lads are devastated.

"It's reminiscent of [Diego] Maradona in '86. We feel so cheated.

"We were the better team all night by a mile. Even going into penalties, we would have been confident. We felt their heads were gone, even in the first half."

Coming as it did on top of the late decision to seed the play-offs, Henry's lucky escape has proved meat and drink to the conspiracy theorists.

However, Duff and his team-mates certainly feel they have had the rough end of the stick in recent months.

He said: "FIFA have to take a long hard look at themselves now. The draw, and then that decision - incredible."

However, for all his annoyance at the fact that Henry got away with an offence at such a pivotal moment in the tie, Duff admitted he might have done the same.

Asked if the incident could damage the striker's reputation, he said: "I don't think you can say that.

"If it was down the other end and it was going out of play, I would have chanced my arm.

"You can't blame him. He's a clever player - but you expect the ref to see it, it was so blatant."

The incident has inevitably sparked fresh calls for the introduction of video technology with defender Sean St Ledger insisting the need had been illustrated perfectly.

Duff too would support a move to bring football into line with the two rugby codes.

He said: "All it takes is two seconds. People say [Zinedine] Zidane got send off for that in the [2006] World Cup [final].

"I ran across to the fourth official straight away. I think he has a monitor there.

"There's a case there. You see it in rugby union, rugby league, it only takes 10 seconds. It should be there."