Watch highlights of and reaction to the Republic of Ireland's emphatic 3-0 win over Sweden on RTÉ TWO at 7.30pm this evening.
Damien Duff is counting down the days to the start of the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign in a bid to banish the pain of missing this summer's World Cup.
Although new manager Steve Staunton's reign started with a bang at Lansdowne Road last night, the 3-0 romp over Sweden underlined the pain being felt at the fact that Ireland will not be in Germany.
For Duff, in particular, Staunton's arrival would appear to have had a galvanising effect as the Chelsea winger produced arguably his best performance for Ireland for some time.
Celebrating his 27th birthday today, the victory was welcome enough but scoring the opening goal of the Staunton era - and his first at international level for 27 months - proved the icing on the cake.
Duff, now injury free after struggling in recent months, feels he is back on song - just regretful the season will not stretch into the summer after failing to qualify under former manager Brian Kerr.
"Hopefully this is the start of great things to come," smiled Duff, whose previous goal was in a 3-0 win over Canada in November 2003.
"We all love Brian, but unfortunately it didn't work out. In the last year or so results didn't really go for us. Coming into this game we just wanted to get the winning mentality back, and along with the result, we produced a great performance.
"But this is a new era now and we're all looking forward to it. It's just a shame we're not going to the World Cup. I've known for a while now that I'm not going, and I'm sure it will hit home again in the summer when it's on the television.
"We can't let it bother us, but we know we didn't do the business in the group stages. As far as I'm concerned, it's now a case of roll on September and our first game with Germany," he added.
In particular if Duff stays fit and has a good pre-season, then he will be key to their hopes of a victory in Stuttgart on September 2. "I've had a hard couple of months," reflected Duff.
"I don't think people have seen that, but I've had every injury under the sun. I've kept plugging away, and now I'm pain free and fit, so there's not much more I can ask for."
If Ireland reproduce this calibre of performance under Staunton in the August friendly with Holland - and for the one planned in May against an as yet unnamed opponent - Germany will hold no fears.
"We showed what we can do against a good side," added Duff. "But then working with Stan over the last few days has been great, and that was reflected out on the pitch."
