Dara O'Shea says the Republic of Ireland are ready to embrace the challenge of taking on France as they look to "write their own history" at Lansdowne Road.
The last major scalp Ireland took in a qualifier was Germany back in 2015, when Shane Long's famous goal sank the then world No 1-ranked team.
It will arguably take an even better performance from Stephen Kenny's men to shock a French side teeming with elite players, not least superstar attacker Kylian Mbappe.
But West Brom centre-back O'Shea is treating the visit of the beaten World Cup finalists as an opportunity for a new generation of Irish players to spark national fervour with a seismic victory.
"It's something I relish," he said at Abbotstown on Friday. "As a young lad coming up, you want to play against the best to try and be the best, so when you get opportunities like this and nights like this you want to be a part of it, you want to be playing against them and seeing where you are.
"These are the nights we want to have as a group. We've watched back those nights as fans. Some of the lads have played in those and can show their expertise and knowledge and share that with us, but, yeah, we want to write our own history. We want to go out and put a good performance in and do the country proud."
Key to pulling it off will be stopping the prodigiously brilliant Mbappe. Ireland leaked two goals against Latvia on Wednesday night; if they are guilty of similar slackness on Monday things could get ugly.
However O'Shea is confident they are capable of stifling France's lethal attack.
"These are the best players in the world," he added.
"We can't really let up. There's no room for error in these situations so we have to give it our best. We're all good players at the end of the day, we're playing at a high level and if we all pull together in the same direction, I think that's going to be massive as a team. It's not going to take one individual to stop someone, it's a team."
"The young lads coming in and putting performances like the other night is massive."
O'Shea is still only 24 but the influx of rising talent into the squad has elevated him to a more senior status.
The likes of Will Smallbone, Andrew Omobamidele and Evan Ferguson have helped to lowered the average age of Kenny's squad significantly, while their off-the-field enthusiasm has energised a tightknit camp.
"If you're around the hotel, you get that feeling," O'Shea stressed.
"The young lads coming in and putting performances like the other night is massive. It was a positive result for us and something that has carried onto the days after.
"As a whole, the group is very excited, training has been very buzzy, and I think, yeah, games like this coming up, lads do really look forward to them and after a good result the other night it's important we stay focused and take that energy into the game.
"It was great to see some of the younger lads come in and put their stamp on the game. Will came in and played excellent, man of the match, and Evan got his goal which is amazing. The two goals were disappointing to concede and we certainly need to do better in those situations."
The closest Ireland have come to beating one of the big guns during Kenny's reign was against Portugal in Faro back in September 2021, when two Cristiano Ronaldo goals at the death wiped out John Egan's opener.
O'Shea fractured his ankle that night, grimacing through the pain as he hobbled off, and endured a lengthy spell on the sidelines afterwards.
He'll bring similar grit to the table on Monday; albeit with a determination to learn from past frustrations.
"Stick together as a team and stay concentrated is the main thing," he replied when asked what the message was this week.
"I keep saying that word [concentrated], but we're going to have to be. When you come up against these players, all it takes is a split second to change the game.
"You know we’ve got some excellent players, leaders and players who have played games like that as well so we’ve got to use their knowledge in that sense and take that into the game."
Watch Republic of Ireland v France in Euro 2024 qualifying on Monday from 7pm live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on 2fm's Game On
