Dara O'Shea is still hurting like the rest of the Republic of Ireland players but knows life will move on as a new chapter begins for the nation.
The pain of the penalty shootout will sting for some time as Tuesday’s friendly with North Macedonia at least allows the opportunity to turn the page.
O’Shea, despite being just 27, is one of the most experienced Irish players.
He has seen some false starts and setbacks but undoubtedly this was the toughest to take on a team level.
For all the positives to take from the campaign, many will struggle to fall back on them in this moment.
Perhaps in time it will come.
The collective hurt is what O’Shea is feeling most, whilst also having the knowledge there will be another day.
"Obviously it was a really tough way to lose. It's part of football and hopefully we can learn a lot from the scenario.
"You just feel a bit hard done by when you're losing penalties. It is a bit of luck at times and a bit of quality too. We probably just unfortunately came out on the wrong side.
"It’s not just us as players [hurting]. As a nation you have your hopes and dreams and you're looking forward to something as big as the World Cup and having the opportunity to take that [Denmark] game back to Dublin. It's tough, but it's football, unfortunately. As professionals this is the way the game goes.
"You've got to quickly, not forget, but move on to the next one. It's a game on Tuesday night and a game that's still an important game for us, we believe. This is the start of our campaign for Euro 2028 and I think that's the way we've got to look at it from now."
O'Shea will have another chance to reach a World Cup. The same is unlikely to be said for Seamus Coleman and Robbie Brady but the remainder of the squad has time on its side.
The Dubliner highlights the broken ankle suffered in a game with Portugal in 2021 as the moment he was able to get a bigger picture perspective on football.
The birth of his son Oaklen came the following year as well. But the moments on the sideline gave him time to look back on the progress in his career and how he got to this point.
Reflecting on the aftermath of that injury, he said frankly: "It killed me.
"My international career had only really started, With my club, everything was on an upward trajectory, and I hadn't really had any lows or any downs or any time out of football. For me it was like the world kind of stopped for a bit really.
"You're stuck in a physio room, not seeing the light of day sometimes and you're watching obviously the lads play games. You’re hoping and wishing that you could be there.
"It was my first injury and you don't really know how you're going to react to things.
"Obviously as players we have good mentalities and we'll try our hardest and work our hardest to do everything but I think at the same time because you haven't experienced anything like that before.
"There's always that thought in your head if you'll ever get back to where you were or how you were again.
"I think in a way it gives you that kind of motivation to almost prove to yourself that you can get back.
"Thanks be to God I did and I worked very hard to get there. It definitely wasn't easy and there was a lot of moments of doubt in your head, just not knowing what the future was going to hold.
"I'm really proud how I reacted to that initially and it obviously gave me that time to reflect as well on what I had done up until that stage and probably never really get a chance to reflect on football enough.
"You're quickly on to the next game so I think as much as it was a really tough time for me, it was a really important time for me and I learned a lot about myself and got to probably look back on what I'd done and use it in a positive way."
The relationship between the country and the team has certainly flourished in this campaign.
While there was plenty of support in stadiums in previous campaigns, the victories over Hungary and Portugal awoke the wider nation to the Boys in Green again.
"It's been special really," the Ipswich Town man reflects.
"The feeling within the group from everybody around us has been amazing. We lost the game and afterwards the support has been unbelievable.
"You can definitely really feel that connection now. It's something that Irish football hasn't had for a while and especially for us as a group of players who probably haven't experienced that."
As for regrets, there is one more to draw upon.
Now with 42 caps to his name, he has yet to find the net in the Irish shirt.
"That's definitely been something that's been in my mind for a while now and I'm trying my hardest.
"Hopefully it will come I think if I keep doing the right things I'll get the opportunities and put myself in them positions.
"For me it's not about scoring for Ireland. it's about playing for Ireland and as long as I'm playing well for my country, I'll be proud and happy."
Happy is not something which can be associated with this Ireland camp in recent times but O'Shea reminds us there is plenty of to come from this generation.
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