Stephen Kenny proclaimed that Ireland could win their Nations League group back in October.
Buoyed by two wins in a row, perhaps, and on the back of excellent performances against Serbia and Portugal the month previous, the manager made the bold prediction despite going into the hat as third seeds and yet to learn the opposition.
"The Nations League in June, we have four matches and our ambition is to win the group," said Kenny. "We will take the Nations League extremely seriously and will be determined to win the group."
Ukraine, Scotland and Armenia duly presented themselves in the way of the premature prophecy, yet Kenny remained upbeat following the draw, claiming that the intention remained to win the group.
The fact remains, however, that Ireland have yet to win a Nations League game in ten attempts, and while Martin O’Neill was responsible for the first four, Kenny came out fighting against the criticism of his team to fail to win in the following six.
A simple enough question to bat away as the manager was asked would it be a good time to put that record to bed away in Yerevan tonight, yet Kenny felt the need to stand up for that tough, tough time for the team, and most particularly himself, who was in the firing line throughout a period where his leadership was constantly called into question.
Kenny felt that it was "completely unfair" to assess that doomed campaign amidst the dark Covid cloud that followed his side from game to game, taking out chunks of his squad at a time.
While he has a very valid point and can speak with a lot more authority off the back of an eight-game unbeaten streak, while reminding us that the team scored 23 goals in 12 months, there appeared little benefit of dragging up the past rather than focusing on the future.
As a result, it adds a little bit more pressure onto the game tonight at the Republican Stadium as Ireland open their campaign against Armenia.
With three games to follow in quick succession, there is a must-win feel to the game now with Scotland and Ukraine both expected to take the maximum from Armenia, and should Ireland do likewise, it will be come down to the head to heads between the top three.
Ireland certainly have the capability of winning the game away in Yerevan against a side who appear to be continuing on a downward spiral since securing some half-decent results in recent years.
One of the most important lessons that Kenny’s side has learned throughout his two-year tenure is how to beat teams that are lower in the rankings, learning the hard way since that shocking defeat to Luxembourg and the home draw with Azerbaijan.
Since then, Ireland have gone away and reversed both those aforementioned fixtures with comprehensive wins, while also dispatching Qatar in Dublin.
And the team have also shown that they will keep going when things are not looking great, typified by the last-gasp victory over Lithuania, where Troy Parrott bagged a late, late winner.
The template is in place for tonight, and you can expect Kenny to send his side out on the front foot, look to secure an early breakthrough and then pick off and punish their opponents when they move further up the pitch in an effort to get back into the game.
As mentioned, the goals have been flowing over the past 12 months and Kenny is placing a real responsibility on his eight-strong attacking unit to come up with the goods.
The manager has hinted that the door is open for some of the newer faces to make an impact over the course of the summer series, however, the team that he has been building has become a lot more predictable in terms of selection.
Gavin Bazunu has, of course, secured the goalkeeping position, while there is also a settled look to the defence with Shane Duffy, John Egan and Seamus Coleman filling the positions – Dara O’Shea and Andrew Omobamidele are both more than capable in this department as well, but both were unlucky with injuries.
Matt Doherty appears to have the right wing-back position sewn up, however, the Spurs man is missing for this window through injury, which could see Coleman move out to the flank, allowing fit-again O'Shea or Nathan Collins, who has impressed at Burnley, to start in the three.
Alternatively, Kenny could look at Cyrus Christie in the wing-back role as Coleman is unlikely to play all four games, while James McClean has slotted into the left wing-back role, again with Enda Stevens missing out due to injury last year. Likewise, the two should share duties over the four games.
Josh Cullen is a cert in the middle of the park, likewise Jeff Hendrick, who has shown some incredible form for Ireland over the past year.
But after that, there is certainly some room to manoeuvre for the Ireland manager, who will surely have been keeping a close eye on all eight throughout the week.
Players who looked set to feature in Kenny’s future like Jamie McGrath and Aaron Connolly are missing from this squad, with the manager namechecking his former Dundalk player as an example of why club form is so important.
Chiedozie Ogbene gave Ireland an extra edge in attack in recent games, while Callum Robinson became a bit of a talisman for this new-look Ireland team and was instrumental in bringing a winning mentality to the team when he scored five goals in two games, however, the West Brom man admitted that the attacking department is the strongest that he has seen since joining the squad.
It had been assumed that players like Michael Obafemi, CJ Hamilton and Festy Obosele would take on no more than a watching brief throughout the following fortnight, however, on the eve of the game in Armenia, the manager hinted that they could be involved.
Kenny has had the guts of a week with his squad ahead of the first game of four, which included a behind closed doors game against Jim Crawford’s Under-21’s, and you get the impression that some of these players have brought their club form into the international week and impressed on the training pitch.
From here on in, there is little time left to work on the team’s shape on the training ground as Armenia away begins the unique four-fixture window to be played out within ten days, with the long-haul flight eating into preparation time for Wednesday’s home clash with Ukraine.
Ireland’s Nations League hopes will prove a lot clearer by the end of this summer series with four games out of the six completed, and while the final standings won’t be settled until September, Kenny’s ambitious outfit will need to make sure that they remain in contention, starting with a comfortable victory in Yerevan tonight.
Follow Armenia v Republic of Ireland (Saturday, 2pm) via our live blog on rte.ie/sport or on the RTÉ News app. Watch live coverage on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player commencing at 1pm with live radio coverage on RTÉ Radio 1.
