The Republic of Ireland will take to the field at Windsor Park this evening for their 14th game of an action-packed 2023.
Katie McCabe has described it as her "favourite year to play in a green shirt", which sums up the temperament of the team's captain and biggest star. There have been many highs: a first appearance at a World Cup, the historic Aviva Stadium defeat of Northern Ireland, a successful Nations League campaign.
But there have been testing times too as tensions bubbled towards the end of Vera Pauw's reign and the squad experienced some negative public kickback after the Dutchwoman departed.
McCabe has been central to all of that drama, but she's such a strong character that the 28-year-old seems unmoved by the negatives, hellbent on driving her country back to another major tournament.
The bigger the occasion the better as far as McCabe is concerned. She wants to lead Ireland to Euro 2025 and make a genuine impact once they get there, with the springtime qualifiers set to pit the Girls in Green against some of the best teams in Europe, given they'll be among the top seeds thanks to their Nations League exploits.
First though, they head to Belfast for the final game of what has been a straightforward campaign.
Five wins from five, 14 goals scored, one conceded, the group won with two games to spare - it has been mission accomplished for interim-manager Eileen Gleeson, who has also brought some fresh faces into the camp along the way.
"We've had our goals and our objectives for this campaign," Gleeson said on the eve of the collision. "Do we want six from six? Absolutely."
This clash with the North looks likely to be their toughest game since the World Cup as Tanya Oxtoby's improving team target a win that would guarantee them second place in the group and a spot in the promotion play-offs.
"We need to challenge ourselves and we need to be brave," said Oxtoby, buoyed by her charges' excellent 4-0 win in Albania last Friday.
"We played them first time around and now we are playing them last, so we'll get a good idea of where we are at and the girls are really buzzing for it. You want to play against teams that have quality everywhere. For us then to know where we need to look to exploit and where we need to be better."
It'll be interesting to see how Northern Ireland look to expose the visitors. Across Ireland's first four games, only Tyler Toland covered more distance than the three centre-halves. Kudos to Caitlin Hayes [9,995m at home to Albania], Louise Quinn [9,710m away to Hungary] and Diane Caldwell [9,693m away to Hungary].
They're having to cover much larger areas now as Gleeson pushes her wing-backs into more advanced starting positions and Ireland play with a higher line. Perhaps Oxtoby will adopt a more adventurous approach on home soil to try and get some joy down the sides of the defensive trio, who have tonnes of experience and nous but lack genuine pace.
Hungary did a pretty good job of pressing Ireland into making mistakes at Tallaght Stadium on Friday while cutting off the passing lanes into midfield, thus starving Denise O'Sullivan and McCabe of possession. McCabe in particular was uncharacteristically quiet, so there's a blueprint there for the North to work off.
They'll also have the benefit of a good crowd with over 8,000 tickets sold and hopes the attendance will be closer to 10,000.
Bristol City midfielder Rachel Furness is out with a hamstring injury, which is a blow to the hosts. But Oxtoby is treating this as the perfect chance to show they're on the right track, adding: "It will give a really good indication of where we are at so we're really looking forward to it. We are going to learn a lot about ourselves."
For Gleeson, it's a swansong. The FAI are set to announce the next permanent Republic of Ireland manager in the next week or two, and though the Dubliner has shied away from completely ruling herself out of the running, it's expected she will return to her role as head of women's and girls' football.
She's been a very capable pair of hands since September, while the back-room team of Emma Byrne, Colin Healy and Richie Fitzgibbon have proven to be popular additions.
"I've loved it," Gleeson reflected. "What's not to love? Leading your country, working with these players, they have great character. I love the girls, I love Irish football. It's been thoroughly enjoyable.
"It's a big game, I'm delighted to be here, it's a nice circle of events. We started in the Aviva [a 3-0 win against the North in September], we end up here in Windsor again with all-Ireland football as such. I'm just enjoying that moment."
There's a new era on the way for this side. They'll be determined to bring the curtain down on Gleeson's reign with one more victory to send them into a massive 2024 on a high.
Watch Northern Ireland v Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Nations League on Tuesday from 5.30pm 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
