Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill says his players must display the same levels of self-belief shown against Italy if they are to topple hosts France in their round-of-16 clash.
Speaking to the assembled media in the aftermath of the famous Italian scalp, O’Neill admitted that the dramatic finale in Lille was a special moment in Irish history as the Boys in Green appeared to be edging to a tournament exit.
Match-winner Robbie Brady was full of emotion in light of his inspirational header and the manager said the euphoric reaction summed up those of the squad.
"You saw the scenes in the stadium, it was almost replicated in the changing room," he said.
"The players were very emotional. Robbie Brady's face epitomised how we all felt.
"We had a great journey home. It was memorable but there's no such thing as private moments any more.
"You just knew the players who have IQs of 15-year-olds, had them up on Facebook. Thankfully they got a picture at the back of the bus or they would have seen us at the top of it."
The players were given a well-earned rest today, with O'Neill admitting the players didn't get to bed until after 5am as they celebrated into the early hours before settling down to the task of tackling France in Lyon.
After the disappointment of the 3-0 defeat by Belgium, hopes were fading of reaching the knock-out stages of the European Championships for the first time and the former Celtic boss admitted he was concerned by events in Bordeaux.
The decision to drop John O'Shea, Ciarán Clark, Glenn Whelan and Wes Hoolahan for the make-or-break clash raised eyebrows in some quarters and O'Neill explained the reasoning behind his team selection.
“Against Belgium, for some reason or other we were off the pace of the game," O'Neill said.
"There's a thought that a third game in nine days for some players in the team might present a problem. What we needed to do was to re-energise the team.
"This is tournament football...it's never been down to 11 players. It's about utilising it [the squad] as best we could.
"We didn't want to go home thinking 'great performance, should have had a penalty, Wes should have scored' and in two days' time it's forgotten.
"We've come up big at the end of the game and deservedly so."
Stand-in skipper Séamus Coleman gave another whole-hearted display and O'Neill paid tribute to the unassuming Donegal man.
The Everton full-back earned his 36th international cap and with O'Shea and Robbie Keane on the bench, the manager had no hesitation in handing him the captain's armband.
"He's an impressive young man. He's very quiet off the pitch, but he has shown a great intensity for this competition.
"He embraced the captaincy and took it in his stride. I thought he was a captain in everything that he did. Some of the players have mentioned that he was inspirational in his speech to them."
Full-back Stephen Ward and Jon Walters are the main injury concerns for the management team and they will be reassessed by the medical team over the coming days.
“Stephen’s ankle is well blown up at the moment. He's desperate to play,” he said while adding that Walters is doing everything he can to be fit for France.
"France will have the vast majority of the tickets and it will be a tough afternoon, but we're ready for it"
A clash with the expectant hosts is the reward for emerging from Group E and Didier Deschamps side have shown glimpses of what they are capable of, scoring last minute winners in their victories over Romania and Albania.
When asked about the challenge facing his team, O'Neill admitted some of the individuals France can call upon are "mesmerising", name-checking N'golo Kanté and Paul Pogba as key men for the hosts.
"As the host nation I assume they will have the vast majority of the tickets and it will be a tough afternoon, but we're ready for it.
"We will have to play in the same manner [ as against Italy], with the same confidence and with the same intensity. If we can do that, we can cause them problems."
The game is a mirror image of O'Neill's World Cup experiences in 1982, when his Northern Ireland side faced hosts Spain for a place in the second round. Gerry Armstrong's goal upset the odds on that night in Valencia and the 64-year-old can see parallels 34 years later.
"That was an immense moment for us and one that I will never forget. There are similarities between that and now," he noted.
In Dimitri Payet, France possess arguably the form player of the tournament and, with Pogba getting back to the form that has made him one of the most sought-after players in Europe and a defence exuding confidence, O’Neill knows that they will be up against it Lyon, but argues belief is the key to lowering French colours.
"It's a game we must look forward to, but not just look forward to. We must believe we can compete and win the game.
"We have to think that because the game last night will give us an enormous boost of confidence and we need to carry that through."
France play their final group game against Switzerland on 19 June and the three extra days could be an advantage following a physically and emotionally draining Irish performance on Wednesday night.
"It does seem a bit disproportionate that one team has to recover from another. That might become very, very important," said the Derry man.
"It is a lot of days, but I understand that as host nation you should get some particular favours and if the competition was in Ireland, I would do exactly the same myself."
The game will be the first clash between the two countries since that infamous clash in 2009 when Thierry Henry’s handball sealed Ireland’s fate in the World Cup play-off, and O’Neill was asked whether revenge will be at the top of their mind on Sunday.
“We have decided to forget about it, and that will take some doing coming from Ireland.
“It's still causing some controversy, I think perhaps maybe more in France than it is in Ireland.”
The team management were as joyous as the 11 players on the pitch when Brady headed home the winner and O'Neill was asked what he said to his assistant manger Roy Keane when the pair shared an embrace at the full-time whistle.
"I told him to shave his beard off, it was rough on my chin," he joked.
Martin O'Neill's response when he was asked what he said to Roy Keane at the full-time whistle against Italyhttps://t.co/CCNgszvIhv
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 23, 2016
"Then I told him I don't want him to hug me again ever. He said you are an ugly sod which I agreed totally and I said he wasn't Paul Newman either," he laughed.
