Michael Noonan admitted the Republic of Ireland players would be going into the unknown against Uzbekistan on Saturday but the striker said they will be ready to go for the challenge of trying to make it two wins from two at the FIFA U17 World Cup in Qatar.
Shamrock Rovers forward Noonan more than played his part as Ireland won their opening game at the tournament 4-1 against Panama on Wednesday, scoring the third goal and earning the Player of the Match award.
With 32 of the 48 teams at the World Cup advancing to the knockout stages, Colin O'Brien's side have put themselves into a great position ahead of games against Uzbekistan and Paraguay.
Uzbekistan are up next in two days' time (live on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player) and speaking after the victory over Panama, Noonan said the Irish set-up would put "full focus" on their central Asian opponents in training on Friday.
"We know it's only the first game of a tournament. It's important we got the three points because we know another game puts us through," said the 17-year-old.
"Obviously we haven't done work on Uzbekistan yet because we're taking it day by day but (Thursday) is a recovery day.
"The next day we'll put full focus on Uzbekistan. We know they're a good side, we don't really know what they're about because we haven't played anyone like them before.
"But we'll be fully prepared for the game and we'll be ready to go."
Ireland proved a cut above Panama on Wednesday, with the exception of a few nervy moments at the back, and Noonan said he and his team-mates had gone into the fixture with a considerable amount of confidence.
"It was a good game, start to finish," he said.
"Obviously we knew there were going to be parts of it that are going to be difficult (which has) got to do with the weather, the opposition but I thought we handled it well.
"We prepared well before and the game plan we stuck by it and it got us to the end.
"I had full belief, I think the team had full belief, the staff had full belief and everyone.
"Everyone on the pitch, everyone on the bench coming on, we knew. We knew we had the quality and we just had a game plan to show it and we did that."
Stunning effort from Shamrock Rovers' Michael Noonan as he comes so close to doubling the Republic of Ireland's lead against Panama
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Noonan could have got more goals than the one he did notch. In the first half, he was denied an audacious long-range wonder goal by the crossbar.
"I was raging with that one but I knew myself chances were coming and it was only a matter of time," he said.
"And I thought the other lads took their goals very well as well and we were solid at the back, so it was a great team performance."
Despite his tender years, Noonan played a prominent part in helping Shamrock Rovers to win the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division.
He had also made history in February by scoring in last season's UEFA Conference League knockout tie against Molde when he was still 16.
But his presence in Qatar means he will miss the Hoops' Sports Direct Men's FAI Cup final against Cork City on Sunday (live on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player) having scored twice in the semi-final win over Kerry.
"The league last week was magic with the hard work over the whole season. It finally paid off and the Cup, there's nothing I can really do about the Cup. It's unfortunate but it's not a bad place to be out here and I'm just going to give my full focus to here and now."
Watch Republic of Ireland v Uzbekistan in the FIFA Under-17 World Cup on Saturday from 3.35pm on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport
Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Watch the Sports Direct FAI Cup final, Shamrock Rovers v Cork City, on Sunday from 2pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to live commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
