Back in Brighton blue, the blues banished; the entire nation smiled along with Shane Duffy as he celebrated his Premier League strike on Saturday.
A tough 12 months for the big Derry man, and a summer's worth of hard work appears to have kick-started his career on the English south coast.
Last season’s loan spell at Celtic indicated that his time was all-but up at Brighton, and when things deteriorated further while north of Hadrian’s Wall, the centre-half's next move would prove crucial - thankfully, he was afforded the chance to fight for his place in Graham Potter's side.
Duffy started Brighton’s first Premier League game of the season, a victory at Burnley, with a man of the match performance to boot, and followed it up with another commanding display on Saturday as the Seagulls made it two from two.
Such a change in form and fortune, just six months on from when Duffy was dropped for Ireland’s opening World Cup qualifiers with barely a whimper, most notably from the man himself.
Yet Duffy’s presence in the Ireland squad for the March games, and followed up with the June camp must have been manna from heaven for the 29-year-old struggling with both confidence and form.
And no doubt, that ten-day summer sojourn away in the company of friends and international colleagues proved the catalyst that sent Duffy bouncing back to Brighton with more than just a spring in his step.
Stephen Kenny names his Ireland squad for the upcoming World Cup triple header on Thursday, and while a fit Duffy was unlikely to miss out on selection, he will now come into camp with eyes on that starting shirt.
And the manager will certainly have been buoyed by the Duffy story that will bring a natural feelgood factor into the camp, once assembled, ahead of a very tricky away day in Portugal next Wednesday.
Kenny has probably left it as long as possible to name what should be an extended squad of around 27 players – a modern necessity of the three-game window – in a bid to see what players are making an early-season impact.
In truth, the Duffy story aside, there has been little to inspire the side in the two or three weeks of competitive action in England.
The manager aspired to create a five-game mentality that would knit the seasons together, starting with the June games, and training camp, and leading into this vital trio of games.
Alas, it appears a long time since that first victory for Kenny, beating Andorra 4-1, and while that particular burden was tossed with glee from the heights of the Pyrenees mountain resort, and led to a decent performance in Budapest - even more so when compared with Hungary’s impressive performances at Euro 2020 - this squad announcement feels just like starting over.
As always, when an Ireland squad announcement appears on the horizon, recent games and starting XIs are appraised from the top down.
Generally that search would begin midway up the Premier League ladder, and would normally peter out at the latter stages of the Championship, however, as things stand, there was probably a bit too much time spent scrolling through the League 1 roll of honour to check up on many of the players in line to get picked.
A sign of the times, perhaps, but one that deems it almost a foregone conclusion that if you are involved with a Premier League matchday squad, you can expect a call from Ireland’s HQ.
And while you would be able to name a starting XI from the top-flight 12, Seamus Coleman was the only other Irish player to start a Premier League game at the weekend.
Aaron Connolly saw some action off the bench in the aforementioned Brighton win, however, Caoimhin Kelleher, Nathan Collins, Conor Hourihane, Jeff Hendrick, Ciaran Clark, Adam Idah, Andrew Omobamidele, Shane Long, Matt Doherty, and Conor Coventry remained minuteless.
Enda Stevens will be missing from the defensive unit for the trip to Lisbon and the home matches against Azerbaijan and Serbia, but otherwise Kenny will have plenty of options to fill the formation, with James McClean in a very good position to claim that left-back, wing-back role, following his move to Wigan.
Up front, Kenny is going to have to ask the young guns to fire over the three games with Connolly, Idah and Troy Parrott all likely to feature.
Parrott’s latest loan move to MK Dons appears to be a good fit for the young Dubliner and he should arrive full of confidence with memories of his contribution during the last international window.
Chiedozie Ogbene played himself into the picture in June, however, he came off injured at the weekend and looks set to miss out, while Aiden O'Brien's midweek hat-trick for Sunderland may have come just at the right time.
The goalkeeping selection should prove a talking point at the squad announcement as it remains to be seen whether Darren Randolph will be included.
Gavin Bazunu and Mark Travers are both playing at Portsmouth and Bournemouth respectively, while Kelleher showed in Hungary why he is tipped to be the long-term Ireland number one.
Randolph was not in the West Ham squad on Monday night, suggesting he is now number three at the east London club, and that might place him at number four for his country. Perhaps Kenny will name four goalkeepers in his squad to prolong the debate.
Ireland’s two games in June finally showed signs that Kenny’s masterplan for the international side had the potential to succeed, however, the team cannot thrive until he has established a midfield unit to build his side around for the big games.
James McCarthy, Jason Knight, Jeff Hendrick, Harry Arter, Jayson Molumby, Robbie Brady and Conor Hourihane are all, for one reason or another, lacking the football required to be named to start on the Algarve coast on Wednesday.
Josh Cullen, at least, is playing first-team football at Anderlecht, yet the manager is going to have to, once again, call on a handful of players who are not where he would like them to be at club level.
One midfielder that is playing on a regular basis at club level, albeit in the Championship, is Gavin Kilkenny, a player that the manager knows well from his time with the Under-21s.
And you might expect that the Bournemouth man has now jumped a few places up the selection ladder on account of his recent form for Scott Parker’s side.
"I think he’s done very well, Gav. Technically he’s a really sound, nice football player. The way I want my teams to play, with technical ability and players being comfortable in possession, comfortable with the ball, understand and are clever. Gav ticks those boxes really, he’s done very well and I have been very impressed," said Parker in a recent interview with the Bournemouth Daily Echo.
"Gav needs to understand that, Gav needs to put his foot forward and leave a big impression on me and this team, which is going to be massive."
Stephen Kenny may not be a subscriber of the English regional publication, but he is certainly a believer in all those attributes outlined by the manager of a club synonymous with playing football the right way.
This particular World Cup campaign is surely beyond redemption and will now serve as a stepping stone towards the next Euro 2024 campaign.
And while the manager will dispute that surmisal as long as there are points to be played for, the inclusion of players like Kilkenny in tomorrow’s squad may give some of those aforementioned benchmen a timely wake-up call ahead of next week’s transfer deadline day.
Follow the Republic of Ireland's three World Cup qualifiers via our live blogs on RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app, or watch live on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player.
