When the draw was made for Shelbourne's maiden UEFA Conference League campaign, Crystal Palace coming to Dublin two weeks before Christmas jumped off the page.
The anticipation among the supporters is reflected in the fact that Tallaght Stadium will be sold out on Thursday night.
But of course for Shels manager Joey O'Brien, the prospect of facing the Eagles is not a novelty, considering he faced them three times as a player during his time on the far side of the Irish Sea - albeit a version less heralded than the one that won the FA Cup in May and has clambered up to fourth in the Premier League.
"I was just thinking back to a game I played against Palace. I was at fault for a goal one time and the manager nearly had a heart attack at half-time, so hopefully that doesn't happen to me tomorrow night," he quipped at Wednesday's press conference.
The manager in question was Big Sam Allardyce and it came back in 2013 during his time with Palace's fellow Londoners West Ham when the striker he was marking, Marouane Chamakh, peeled off him to head in the only goal of the game.
"That's one that sort of sticks in the memory because as I said I think the manager was going to have a heart attack," the former Republic of Ireland defender added.
"So I was more concerned about hopefully him not having a heart attack going mad at me than the outcome of the game. When I was over there playing against them and stuff like that, they obviously weren't at the heights that they're at now, so it just shows you what's possible for a football team."
With the League of Ireland in hibernation, Shels' schedule of late has been solely focused around their Conference League journey which has allowed O'Brien the time to go and have a close up look at the modern-day Palace.
On Sunday, he took in their 2-1 victory at Fulham, a result that underlined their high-flying start to the Premier League season.
However, as impressed as he might be by how "well coached and drilled" Oliver Glasner's side, O'Brien is adamant that his side should not put too much undue focus on the reputations of the opposition and remember how far they have come themselves within pressure moments of their own like the title decider in Derry last year.
"It's about us and I keep on saying that because that's the message I've been saying to the lads," O'Brien said at Wednesday's press conference.
"Sometimes you can think too far about things and think of who you're playing against and where they've come from and stuff like that. But for me, that doesn't work. It's about yourself, being proud of your own journey, how you've got here, incredible stories to get to this game."
Straying from the white lines of the pitch to offer a wider perspective, he added: "Pressure in football and stuff like that, it's not pressure, it's an absolute privilege to be in this situation. Here people talk about these games having pressure on them. Pressure is, I read a story about a chap over in Gaza going to look for food for his family, wondering whether he came back to get enough food for his family or his family was still going to be alive. That's pressure.
"This for me isn't pressure, it's a great opportunity for us as a football club and the lads as players to really go out in front of, I think it's sold out, a sold out crowd to really show how good footballers they are and that they belong on the pitch."
He fished in the memory bank again to underline how far Shelbourne have come, recalling a time in the not so distant past when he was in the opposition trenches, ready to face a club that did not have the firepower to provide a real threat.
"I played against Shelbourne, I think my last season playing at (Shamrock Rovers) or the year before that, so what's that, probably five, six years ago," he said.
"There wasn't much of a warm-up done by me, if I'm being honest, and ultimately that was because my body was so bad, but also probably because I felt I didn't need it. I think them days are long gone for this football club, where this football club has gone through investment and people coming in."
The Palace game is Shels' penultimate fixture in a league phase that has seen O'Brien's team pick up a solitary point from their opening night against Swedish outfit BK Hacken in October. Since then, they have tasted defeats against Shkendija, Drita and AZ Alkmaar, although the performances have been better than the results have shown.
The latter game where they went down 2-0 in the Netherlands, having kept it scoreless until the 70th minute against a team featuring Ireland's hero of the hour Troy Parrott, offers a template of sorts for Thursday.
"There were a lot of positives," O'Brien said.
"I think we started really well in the game. Their first shot on target didn't come until the second-half. So going away from home in Europe and having that was really good. I felt that in possession we didn’t show our real quality and how good we are as players, so that is a big thing for me tomorrow, that the lads embrace the challenge and show how good we are in possession.
"So that’s an area of improvement. Ultimately when we get chances, make sure we take them."
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