Following their impressive goalless draw in Florence on Friday night, the Republic of Ireland return to their old fiefdom in south-west Dublin for their first home game of the year, a friendly against Wales.
The Florence encounter against the Italians marked the first match of Eileen Gleeson's reign as permanent manager, the former Peamount United boss having spent the duration of the 2023 Nations League campaign insisting that she had no interest in extending her spell in the job beyond the interim.
Nonetheless, Gleeson presided over a strikingly contented camp in the autumn, the Ireland players apparently liberated from the cautious instincts of Vera Pauw - Gleeson's broadly successful but highly divisive predecessor.
The fact that Ireland were operating at a level beneath their current station, regularly pummeling overmatched League B outfits may have contributed to the feelgood vibes and perhaps given a falsely positive impression on the new regime.
The sceptics insisted that the utility and effectiveness of Gleeson's new player-friendly approach would only be properly tested against elite teams. The performance and result on Friday would surely have bolstered the narrative that the progress has been genuine.
"She absolutely deserved it," insisted Katie McCabe on Monday of Gleeson's appointment. "And the staff as well. It's a fantastic appointment in my opinion. The FAI got it spot in terms of who should take us forward in order to qualify for the Euros.
"That's why I'm so excited because I really feel like we've got the ingredients to do something really special as a team.
"We can't forget obviously the foundations that Vera put in when she was here, Colin [Bell] put in, Sue Ronan before that. Each one of those coaches made sure they were leaving Ireland as a team in a better place than they inherited it. But it's now moving onto Eileen's reign and making sure we're moving forward."
Their male counterparts have recorded a few famous victories over Italy down the years - well, a couple of famous victories in the Giants Stadium and Lille, one somewhat less famous 2-0 friendly win in Liege (for some reason) in 2011 - and the women almost did last Friday, but for a debatable offside flag denying Leanne Kiernan on 73 minutes.
Ireland altered their formation somewhat, switching to a back four, with Megan Connolly sitting in front of the defence as an anchoring midfielder. Without the usual creative forces of Denise O'Sullivan and Sinead Farrelly, Jess Ziu and Izzy Atkinson (of West Ham and Crystal Palace respectively) provided much of the impetus going forward.
On Monday, Gleeson stressed that the formation was more about promoting adaptability than settling definitively on an alternative approach.
"It was a change in formation from what we used in the Nations League, but what we talk about is being adaptable and how we occupy space and not getting fixated on one particular formation.
"We want to be able to adapt quickly whether we have a three or a five [in defence or midfield] or if we want to go to a four.
"That is what we tested out against Italy and I felt the girls did really well in that."
Tonight, they face a Welsh side in the midst of their own managerial upheaval. Last month, Gemma Grainger, who had taken the side to cusp of qualification for the past two tournaments, jumped ship to take the glamorous head coaching job at Norway.
Wales' 37-year old midfielder and most capped international Jess Fishlock didn't go to great lengths to hide her disappointment to the BBC, admitting bluntly that Grainger's abrupt departure "sucks for us".
Speaking to the Beeb, Fishlock summarised, with not a little bitterness: "Gemma had an offer, she deemed that it was better... you are in a certain place, and you give it everything you have. You say that you want to do this, you want to do that and you want to qualify. And all of a sudden, something comes along and you're like, 'Oh actually this is going to be great for me'."
On the eve of the game, former Canada international Rhian Wilkinson was appointed her successor and will attend the game, though interim manager Jon Grey will be in charge in the dugout.
Fishlock, who plays for Seattle Reign in the NWSL, is determined to mount one last push to reach a major tournament before her career ends, and went so far as to say it would be "borderline criminal" if Wales failed to make the next Euros after their Nations League showing.
Despite a lower world ranking than Ireland, Wales spent 2023 in League A of the Nations League for the usual convoluted co-efficient reasons.
Though failing to qualify themselves, Wales had a (very) marginally better record that Ireland in 2019 World Cup and Euro 2022 qualifying and the draw for the inaugural Nations League was made just prior to the 2023 World Cup playoffs in September 2022.
On the night of Ireland's glorious win in Hampden, they fell agonisingly short in extra-time against Switzerland, losing 2-1 and missing out on qualification to a first major finals.
As one would expect, League A was a grim toil for the Welsh, who shipped five defeats from their first five matches in a group containing Germany, Denmark and Iceland.
However, the campaign finished with a landmark 0-0 draw against Germany in Swansea, which was hailed as one of the finest results in their history. Indeed, it could have been better - Rangers striker Rachel Rowe drilling a shot off the post which would have put them in front before half-time.
At any rate, Ireland and Wales have already swapped places for the next edition of the Nations League, but only eight spots separate them in the world rankings - the former in 24th, the latter in 32nd.
Interim manager Grey of has described Ireland as the model for what Wales wish to achieve - "they've got some real fantastic players, they've done really well and they’ve got that model that we want to do – we want to qualify for a major championship and they’ve just done it in the World Cup."
In addition to Fishlock - 134 caps and counting - Wales boast a goal threat in the shape of the considerably younger Elise Hughes, the 22-year-old Crystal Palace striker who is currently top scorer in the Women's Championship. Hughes, who has 14 goals in 15 games this season, scored her first international goal off the bench in the 2-1 loss to Iceland.
"They've had some toe-to-toe games where maybe they didn't come out on the end of the result," said Gleeson. "They've got a 0-0 draw against Germany.
"So, another tough test for us. Another good benchmark as to how we are, how we perform, how we set up. It's a good preparation match for us."
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