The scenes of revelry around Prague's cobbled streets and squares last week were a sight to behold.
Particularly on matchday afternoon as a sea of green took over the Czech capital's old town. It almost felt like a celebration.
So imagine what Dublin would have been like if the Republic of Ireland had found a way to beat Czechia and bring the party back to Aviva Stadium tonight.
Lest we forget, Thursday in Prague was only meant to be a prelude to what was supposed to be a home play-off final against a Denmark team that had been hoodwinked by Scotland back in November.
But as everyone is painfully aware, there is nothing tangible to play for tonight.
It's the friendly no one wanted against a North Macedonia side who will be mirroring the same long faces that have been worn here since the Prague hangover kicked in.
How many supporters brave the turnstiles in the circumstances is a question mark.
The World Cup out of reach and there is uncertainty over the international futures of great servants like Séamus Coleman and Robbie Brady.
So it would perhaps feel natural to see this friendly as being like a full stop to another curtailed qualifying campaign that briefly glimmered with untold promise.
But Heimir Hallgrimsson and his squad are rhetorically viewing tonight as an oxford comma rather than the dot at the end of the sentence.
Momentum has been building - even in defeat to Czechia - and with the start of the Nations League six months away, the road towards a Euro 2028 as a co-host starts in earnest now.
"It's a massive disappointment for us as players and the fans that we don’t have that game and an opportunity to go to the World Cup," said Dara O'Shea of the what-might-have-been nature of tonight.
"But we’re professionals and you have to move on to the next game and the next game is really important for us as a group.
"Everything we’ve created now, the feeling we have within the group, the confidence… so it’s important to go out with a solid performance that we are proud of and people can be proud of too to continue on our run.
"We spoke about how we’re building towards Euro 2028 now and it’s important that we keep going in the right direction and I feel we have been."
Thus, tonight will be about laying down a marker with Hallgrimsson saving overt experimentation for the squad he picks for the May training camp in Murcia and the friendlies to come against Grenada, Qatar and Canada.
Indeed, he has already said that he will have no hesitation throwing Ryan Manning, Finn Azaz and Alan Browne into the mix after their particularly personal Prague pain.
"We can grow, yes, but it's not going to be big steps or changing from this team to that team," said the manager.
"It’s just continuing to believe in what we’re doing and improve it step by step. Sadly we don’t have two months together because there are a lot of things we could have done in two months had we qualified but we’ll use every time we get to try to evolve as a team.
"But it’s always best to do it in small steps and in the right direction rather than converting and changing things completely."
Sammie Szmodics and Brady are both unavailable tonight due to injuries, while Jack Taylor returned home after his wife fell ill.
The Ipswich midfielder has not been definitively ruled out with his wife thankfully on the mend.
Liam Scales, though, is back from the suspension that kept him out in Prague. Significantly, Hallgrimsson has also indicated that Ireland fans at the Aviva may well get more than a glimpse of Bosun Lawal.
The ultra versatile 22-year-old remains uncapped, with injuries having been key to delaying his integration into the senior team. But Lawal is viewed as a contender to bring size and physicality to defensive midfield in the long term.
"We would never been able to play him for 90 minutes (in Prague) but he is much closer to that now," Hallgrimson said on Monday.
Former Ireland defender Stephen Kelly has been an avowed fan of the Stoke City man from watching him with the Under-21s and has previously told the RTÉ Soccer Podcast that he shares some traits with his former Tottenham Hotspur team-mate Ledley King, which is high praise indeed.
Harvey Vale could also get more minutes after making his debut towards the end of extra-time last Thursday.
Meanwhile, Hallgrimsson was non-commital on whether winger Millenic Alli will get a run-out. The Portsmouth loanee got his first ever international call-up at any age grade on Sunday after impressing the manager in recent weeks.
If the 26-year-old does make a cameo it would almost certainly be off the bench with Hallgrimsson unprompted in pointing out that FIFA rules allow him to make eight substitutions in friendlies.
But Hallgrimsson will be keen to ensure that, first and foremost, his team continue their recent trajectory.
The opportunity is there to somewhat lift the gloom at the Aviva given North Macedonia are similarly deflated and have had their confidence severely dented.
The visitors were thrashed 4-0 by Denmark in their own semi-final on Thursday which is a punctuation mark on some poor form of late.
Last November, two days after Ireland enjoyed a famous night in Budapest, the North Macedonians were ripped apart 7-1 by Wales in Cardiff.
Previous to the Euro 2020 participants had slumped to home draws against Latvia and Kazakhstan. It wasn't all bad though as they seemed to be a bogey team of sorts for Belgium in qualifying Group J, holding the Red Devils to 1-1 and 0-0 draws.
The Denmark defeat was presided over by Goce Sedloski, who was appointed as successor to Blagoja Milevski in January, with the new manager switching away from their previous back three system.
With Hallgrimsson preaching continuity, Ireland may well retain their own back three. But what the Boys in Green will be most keen to retain is the fervour that followed them to Prague.
"I think we've taken a lot of confidence in that we can easily feel sorry for ourselves and mope around, and look at this game as a hindrance," said O'Shea.
"But I think everybody is really delighted to get going again. That’s the main thing. We’ve spoken about what we have created as a group with the fans and we want to keep that going, that’s so special for us.
"The feeling of having a whole country behind you is magic, and it’s something you can’t underestimate.
"We feel like we have that right now, so we want to keep going, we want to keep pushing on. Everyone has got high standards for themselves that they set, and as a group we want to do well, we want to qualify for major tournaments, we want to win games of football.
"The feeling within ourselves, obviously, was disappointment. But now it’s about motivation and looking towards the next opportunity."
Watch Republic of Ireland v North Macedonia from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app
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