Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane always wanted their players to make some history for themselves at these European Championships.
And the team duly obliged last Wednesday night in Lille as they beat Italy 1-0 to qualify for the knockout stages, while cementing their names into Irish footballing folklore.
But going into Sunday’s last-16 clash against host nation France, O’Neill’s side need to summon the Spirit of Stuttgart and the Giants of New Jersey as they take on the tournament favourites in their own back yard.
This France team are a veritable who’s who of European football, especially in the middle of the park where Dimitri Payet, Paul Pogba, Blaise Matuidi and Antoine Griezman are amongst the most sought after club players on the Champions League circuit.
In fact, coach Didier Deschamps has almost as many superstars sitting on the bench, such is the quality of this France squad.
And Ireland will go into battle with Deschamps’ side in the hostile arena in Lyon, where only a very small percentageof the 59,000-strong crowd will be cheering on the Boys in Green.
Not forgetting the fact that the match will be played in mid-afternoon summer sunshine against a side who have enjoyed three extra days of recovery from the group stages, meaning they’ve had a full week between games.
Ireland, however, will bring a huge amount of confidence into the last-16 clash following their impressive performance and victory over Italy and will be looking to pick up from where they left off in Lille.
Naturally, the manager’s main concern is player recuperation and making sure that his starting XI have fully replenished their energy levels ahead of the game.
Injuries aside, O’Neill must be thinking about taking the same approach to this game, albeit against tougher opposition, simply because it proved so effective, and if replicated, could cause real problems for this attack-minded French team.
There are injury concerns, of course, with Jonathan Walters still recovering from his Achilles problem, while Stephen Ward has been nursing a swollen ankle since that final group game.
The manager appears to have learned his lesson from earlier games and should only start players who are 100% ready to go and provide that vital energy that O’Neill and Keane always hark on about.
So if that rules Ward out of the starting XI, the manager has the immediate dilemma of who to start at left back.
Robbie Brady was a revelation playing in an attacking central midfield role against Italy, so it really would be counter-productive to force him back into a defensive role for the game against the French.
O’Neill should look elsewhere for options and while Cyrus Christie is the de facto full-back replacement, the manager might opt for Ciaran Clark to slot in on the left side of his defence.
Clark has not performed at his best in this tournament but appears to be a player that the manager likes and trusts, and a left-back role can hand the Aston Villa man a shot of redemption, having scored the own goal against Sweden and struggled in the disappointing defeat to Belgium.
Tournament football has perhaps caught up with Wes Hoolahan in the manager’s mind, and again the Norwich playmaker might be kept in reserve for the latter stages when there is a good chance that Ireland will be looking for a late goal.
Daryl Murphy did enough to retain his place, and an old-fashioned big and small combination up front can certainly cause the French centre-halves some real issues.
Murphy’s physical presence will require constant attention from Laurent Koscielny and partner Adil Rami, which should free up Shane Long to run the channels and perhaps get in behind for a chance on goal.
As mentioned, the three-pronged attack of Brady, Jeff Hendrick and James McClean can support the front two against a team where N’Golo Kante is often left to carry out the defensive duties with little support.
Conversely, that is why the energy levels cannot afford to drop because when this French side turn defence into attack, Ireland will need to get numbers behind the ball, such is the quality of Deschamps’ side going forward.
James McCarthy is likely to sit in front of the back four and will need real discipline and support to keep the French attack quiet with Griezman and Payet roaming freely up front, supporting centre forward Olivier Giroud.
Despite their obvious potential, this France side have yet to really gel on the pitch in any of their three previous games.
They have been sheltered from the media all week in their base camp out in Fontainebleau and they spent the first three days of their preparations watching Northern Ireland games thinking that Ireland would not beat Italy and that they would be playing Michael O’Neill’s side.
They got Martin’s team instead and while they might have underestimated Ireland going into the Italy match, they will certainly show them some amount of respect in this knockout encounter.
Deschamps made a point of naming a whole string of Irish players that he believes can cause his side problems and his Premier League-based players will also be pointing out the danger of Shane Long and the quality of Robbie Brady.
France have enjoyed a full week to prepare for this game but by kick-off time they will be anxious to get going and put on a performance for the home crowd.
And while the opposite can be said about the Irish, the main benefit of having little time to recover for the game will mean that they will have had even less time to think about the magnitude of the task in hand.
There may only be a pocket of green in the stadium but a bright start from the Irish could really silence the majority home crowd. And if the players can hear that vocal Irish support, they will know that they are on the right track and confidence should build.
Added motivation that a victory against France could set up a quarter-final clash with England will not be needed in this encounter as this Irish team tend to play for the moment and will leave everything out on the pitch, irrespective of who future opponents might be.
Ireland have been denied some very strong and valid penalty appeals in their last two games, and have yet to get any big decisions from the officials at this tournament.
And playing against the host nation, history would dictate that the smaller nations rarely get the crucial decisions in these encounters.
However, there is a small bit of history that needs fixing on that front.
It will be on all our minds.
