The nightmare of the 5-1 hammering by Denmark in Dublin last November may still haunt Martin O’Neill, but the Ireland manager has emphasised that his side are starting off on the road to Euro 2020 with a clean slate.
The crushing victory in that vital play-off prevented Ireland from playing at this summer’s World Cup and as a result, the wait to banish those remaining demons goes on.
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Ten months since that fateful day when another Viking raid hurt the Irish in Dublin, a competitive game of football eventually presents itself to allow O’Neill’s men to go again.
As a result of a new process for the Euro 2020 qualifiers, the newly formed Nations League must suffice to quench Ireland’s competitive thirst, and familiar foes await on Thursday night at the Cardiff City Stadium.
And what better place to look for inspiration? Ireland’s last great night took place right there, a stone’s throw from the Welsh capital’s city centre, just weeks before that Danish disaster when James McClean scored the only goal of the game to send O’Neill’s side marching towards the World Cup play-offs.
"Do you know what?" pondered O’Neill when asked whether the Danish game was still fresh in the memory heading into the new campaign.
"When we set out for the World Cup qualifying campaign in Belgrade, I don’t think for one minute that we considered how well we had done in France. It was a clean sheet, the slate clean and you start again.
"The game that we played against Denmark was in November so what we have done in the meantime is get some fresh blood in, some younger players."
And while certain players have come in since the tail end of the World Cup qualifying campaign, like Sean Maguire, Alan Browne, Conor Hourihane and Graham Burke, the coming of age of Declan Rice was what really excited the Irish footballing public ahead of this inaugural UEFA competition.
That story has yet to run its course, and it may take some time for the final act in that particular play to be written, and O’Neill appeared more concerned about the players who are missing through injury ahead of Thursday’s encounter.
"As it has turned out, we have picked up some injuries," he said.
"Young Maguire looked as if he was shaping up quite nicely. But then again, I wouldn’t want to be putting pressure on young lads who wouldn’t have played more than three times for us.
"The whole point is that we are starting afresh again, and we are going for it, and the irony of it is that we are in against Denmark, who beat us, and Wales, who we beat.
"So Wales might turn around and think that they have a point to prove against us but if that is a motivation in itself, then I haven’t a problem with it."
The Wales encounter comes too soon for Robbie Brady, who is still returning to full fitness following the knee injury, which ruled him out for the past nine months, while Shane Long picked up a foot injury on Saturday playing for Southampton.
"Shane Long, it's a couple of weeks. He may well be fit again for Southampton's game again in two weeks' time," confirmed O’Neill.
"Robbie is making very good progress, but I think it would be just too early for me to say that he might be available for games in October time, but he's doing pretty well."
There are no such concerns for Ireland captain Seamus Coleman, who is back to full fitness and has been showing great form this season for Everton.
Coleman, of course, suffered a horrific leg break against Wales at the Aviva Stadium earlier in the last World Cup qualifying campaign, and while the defender faces the same opponents as that fateful night at Lansdowne Road, O’Neill believes that the psychological effects are long gone from the mindset of his skipper.
"Seamus has got over that, absolutely, he has definitely got over that.
"And he is raring to go and just wants to make up for lost time. He is much fitter now, he is getting up and down the pitch and he looks miles fitter than he was at the back end of last season, and naturally so.
"He has got pre-season and Seamus is a brilliant trainer anyway and I think that anyone at club level would vouch for that.
"If he stays clear of another serious injury, who knows what will happen over the next couple of years for his career."
The Gareth Bale factor remains, as it did in the last qualifying campaign, when it comes to playing against Wales, yet the fear factor does not appear as prevalent this time around, as O’Neill's side coped quite well against the Real Madrid man in that Dublin encounter.
"It goes without saying he's a world-class player. He turned the game in the Champions League final, so you can't do much more than that.
"He didn't play in the game in Wales; he did play in the game in Dublin, when he was reasonably quiet during the course of the game. He had one fantastic run in the match.
"He's capable of escaping no matter how tightly you get close to him, he has that ability to elude and pull something out of the hat, so we have to be very careful with him, obviously.
"But Wales will reject the fact that they are a one-man team."
