Nathan Collins believes that Ireland are willing and able to accept the difficult challenge of securing a result against Portugal on Thursday night at Aviva Stadium.
The captain is expecting a very tough encounter, from both a physical and mental perspective, however, Collins has faith in the team to go one step beyond the fine performance that they displayed in Lisbon.
In last month's World Cup qualifier, Ireland held the star-studded Portugal outfit scoreless for 90 minutes only for Ruben Neves to head home an injury time winner for the group leaders.
Now the two sides meet again in the final week of the qualifying group phase, and while a win will see Portugal book their place in next summer’s showpiece, Ireland will most likely have to secure a draw or better to remain relevant.
Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side are still in contention for second place, which would see them progress to the play-offs in March, however, Hungary are currently in pole position for that accolade and travel to Yerevan to face Armenia on Thursday.
Sprawling UEFA time zones will mean that the match in the Armenian capital will be finished before the two teams take to the Lansdowne Road pitch, and should Hungary win, it will leave Ireland with a mountain to climb.
With goal difference a deciding factor, ahead of aggregate scores between two teams on level points, Ireland would need to take a point against Portugal and win by two goals or more in Budapest.
The ideal, if unlikely, scenario would be Hallgrimsson’s side turning over the much-fancied Portuguese to take three valuable points, which would mean any sort of victory in Budapest would suffice.
Alternatively, should Armenia frustrate Hungary and take something from the game, it would certainly aid the Irish play-off push.
"They're one of the best teams in the world, with some of the best players in the world, and it's just going to be extremely tough," said Collins, speaking to the press on Monday.
"You have to concentrate. It's probably more the mental challenge than the physical challenge."
Portugal are expected to dominate the possession statistics once more, however, Collins feels that opportunities will present themselves to allow Ireland to take the game to the visitors and create.
Collins feels that the home stadium is becoming more of a fortress and away teams are finding things quite hostile both on and off the pitch, and he hopes it can work to Ireland’s advantage.
"I think there's a lot of talk on how we have to defend, defend, defend," said Collins. "I think we're going to attack as well. They have to defend us.
"They have to deal with some of our attacking threats. So it works both ways, especially when we're at home and the fans are behind us. We know how hard it is to defend them, but we want to make them uncomfortable as well.
"We want to put pressure on them in certain areas of the game. So it's going to work both ways. We learnt a lot last game, but hopefully we can continue that.
"Not many teams want to come to the Aviva and go, 'yeah, we're really up for this, we really want to fight for this’. That's where we gain our motivation, the teams are looking at us and go, 'no, not Ireland away'.
"And I think that builds confidence, it builds motivation, and then you just have to bring it onto the pitch then. You want to create that kind of fortress at home and make it really tough for teams coming here."
Collins believes that momentum is building within the side and while big performances have not yielded the required results in recent years, the Brentford defender is convinced that the team are edging closer.
"I think that's where the belief is coming from and the faith we have in each other is that we know we can go get a big win against a top team.
"We've come close in previous years against a few teams that we've not got over the line. But I think the belief in the squad is that Ireland at home has that in them to get a big win against a big squad. So why can't it be us really?"
As for the game itself, while Collins spoke about the quality of the opposition and the difficult mental task of playing out of possession, he expects a different kind of contest, backed by a vociferous home support.
"It's a different game away from home," he said. "It's always tough going to a place like that. We're under pressure a lot, they have a lot of the ball. It's not easy but you have to just bite the bullet with that.
"But when we're at home, again, it's momentum, everything changes, they have a bit more pressure, the fans are not with them, they're against them.
"It's what we do on the pitch, winning your duels, winning your battles, playing forward passes, getting behind them, creating horrible situations for the opposing team. Once we do that, I think the fans back us even more. They get louder.
"When they have the ball, they feel more pressure. It creates an energy in the stadium where the opposite team just feels it. It's not nice to be in that moment.
"It'll be a completely different game I think."
Collins commanded the last line in Lisbon in what was a near flawless defensive performance throughout the team, and he believes that the vital moments in and around their own penalty area instilled confidence and aided the overall effort.
"In a game like that when it's hard to gain momentum and it's hard to get that bit of edge, you need to find something that you can draw confidence from.
"Maybe that's a big block, it's a big save from Caoimhín (Kelleher). You gain motivation from that, gain confidence and then you feel better about yourself, you feel better about your team.
"It's maybe something mental that can just change a little bit but it is nice to have those moments."
Watch Republic of Ireland v Portugal in World Cup qualifying on Thursday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
