Eileen Gleeson has included a couple of young, home-based players in most of her Republic of Ireland squads since taking the reins last September, but the terrain her team are about to enter is no place for rookies.
The Euro 2025 qualification phase begins with a trip to a brilliant France side next week before a blockbuster Aviva Stadium showdown against England - also jam-packed with elite talent - four days later.
Then in late May/early June, there's a double-header with Sweden to look forward to.
All three of Ireland's opponents are ranked inside the world's top five; all three were in the semi-finals of the last Covid-delayed European Championships in 2022, which England went on to win.
The draw gods did not smile kindly on Ireland when they were plucked from the pot in Nyon, but it's not all doom and gloom.
A successful UEFA Nations League saw Ireland gain promotion to League A for Euros qualification - rarefied air that offers the safety net of a guaranteed spot in the play-off semi-finals even if they finish bottom of the group.
Gleeson bristles at the mention of that fact. She's backing her players to defy their status as rank outsiders and genuinely trouble the big guns.
Still, the head coach is rooted in reality. And her squad selection shows evidence Ireland will take a pragmatic approach to the qualifiers, leaning on top-level experience and defensive resilience.
Niamh Fahey is included in the squad despite the fact the centre-half has a calf injury. The hope is that Fahey will recover in time to feature in at least one of the matches. She's simply too important to rule out prematurely.
Meanwhile highly-rated Aston Villa defender Anna Patten (above) links up with Ireland for the first time as she waits on her international clearance. Patten represented England up to Under-21 level. Now 24, it's hard to imagine she's being brought in to simply make up the numbers.
If Fahey loses her fitness race - and assuming the FAI sort the paperwork in time - Patten may find herself on the bench in France; although Ireland are hardly light in numbers when it comes to the back line.
Louise Quinn, Caitlin Hayes, Megan Connolly, Diane Caldwell and Aoife Mannion are all seasoned, capable central defenders.
Perhaps Patten's call-up is a hint that Gleeson wants to go with a central defensive three for these games, as opposed to the 4-1-4-1 Ireland impressively deployed in the draw against Italy in February.
Patten may not have a senior international cap to her name, but she's been around the Women's Super League for the last seven years, having first broken through at Arsenal. In other words she's comfortable playing at a very high level.
She's also part of a longer-term succession plan. Fahey, Caldwell and Quinn are all well into their 30s, while Mannion and Hayes are both 28. As Gleeson put it, "age doesn't wait for anybody".
"I think it's representative of the competition in the squad right now, that more players are playing at higher levels of the game," Gleeson commented when asked about the absence of any League of Ireland players.
"Our first look is always with LOI and we want to, of course, bring players through, but the core thing is that the players are playing at a high enough level to sustain the intensity that you're going to get at international level.
"LOI is developing nicely, but there is still a lot that has to be developed. And a core philosophy for us is that we do transition players through. But the level of this opposition doesn’t allow us to bring the likes of young Freya (Healy) in and Ellen (Dolan) in.
"We have to have a bit more experience in at this point."
Peamount pair Healy and Dolan are still only 16 and 17 respectively so it's fair to assess these qualifiers represent too big a leap at this stage of their development.
Their clubmate Erin McLaughlin might feel a bit more aggrieved however.
She drops out of the squad completely to accommodate Emily Murphy (above), the Wake Forest University attacker who made her debut against Wales last month.
Murphy - another former England underage international - produced a bustling 45-minute display against Wales that clearly pleased the management team. Her inclusion is a big show of faith.
They are all "tough decisions", says Gleeson, who once again aired her view that Ireland needs an Under-23s team to help nurture the country's fledgling talent.
"You can be quite open about it that we need a 23s and I think that will be something that will happen down the line," she said.
"That will be the mechanism to capture the players that are not quite ready. I’ve said throughout my career as a club coach, outside of this role and head of women’s and girls’ football, there is a cliff drop at Under-19s.
"It’s tough for an Under-19s player, unless they are exceptional, to go straight into the senior national team so we need a mechanism to develop those players and the 23s is a potential answer to that.
"That helps us to build their experience in a more intense environment and we can select more, and it’s a pathway to the senior team."
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Courtney Brosnan (Everton), Grace Moloney (London City Lionesses), Sophie Whitehouse (Lewes).
Defenders: Jessie Stapleton (Reading - on loan from West Ham United), Diane Caldwell (FC Zurich), Louise Quinn (Birmingham City), Niamh Fahey (Liverpool), Aoife Mannion (Manchester United), Caitlin Hayes (Celtic), Anna Patten (Aston Villa), Megan Campbell (London City Lionesses).
Midfielders: Katie McCabe (Arsenal), Denise O'Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), Megan Connolly (Bristol City), Ruesha Littlejohn (London City Lionesses), Tyler Toland (Blackburn Rovers), Lily Agg (Birmingham City), Heather Payne (Everton), Jess Ziu (West Ham United), Lucy Quinn (Birmingham City), Izzy Atkinson (Crystal Palace).
Forwards: Kyra Carusa (San Diego Wave), Abbie Larkin (Crystal Palace), Amber Barrett (Standard Liege), Leanne Kiernan (Liverpool), Emily Murphy (Wake Forest University).
FRANCE SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Solène Durand (Sassuolo), Pauline Peyraud-Magnin (Juventus), Constance Picaud (Paris Saint-Germain).
Defenders: Estelle Cascarino (Juventus), Élisa De Almeida (Paris Saint-Germain), Sakina Karchaoui (Paris Saint-Germain), Maëlle Lakrar (Montpellier), Griedge Mbock Bathy (Lyon), Ève Périsset (Chelsea), Wendie Renard (Lyon), Thiniba Samoura (Paris Saint-Germain).
Midfielders: Amandine Henry (Angel City), Selma Bacha (Lyon), Sandy Baltimore (Paris Saint-Germain), Kenza Dali (Aston Villa), Grace Geyoro (Paris Saint-Germain), Lea Le Garrec (FC Fleury), Sandie Toletti (Real Madrid).
Forwards: Vicki Becho (Lyon), Kadidiatou Diani (Lyon), Julie Dufour (Paris FC), Marie-Antoinette Katoto (Paris Saint-Germain), Eugénie Le Sommer (Lyon), Delphine Cascarino (Lyon).
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