Megan Connolly believes the Republic of Ireland will have to be ready for a more potent Poland when they meet again in part two of their double-header on Saturday.
Carla Ward's side took a big step towards a crucial top-three finish in their World Cup qualifying group with a 3-2 win over the Poles in Gdansk on Tuesday.
Saturday will be the Girls in Green's turn to play host at Aviva Stadium with 16,000 tickets sold to date for the 3pm kick-off.
Connolly was at the heart of midfield earlier this week as Ireland impressed on a poor pitch in Gdansk.
But speaking on Thursday, the versatile Lazio player believes that the Irish side will not be the only beneficiary of the more immaculate surface at Lansdowne Road.
"For them (Poland), they're going to come out guns blazing. We want to win again, they want to get three points, so I think for them we'll see a bit more aggressive (football)," the Cork native said.
"We can't be complacent and think the same things are going to happen that occurred the other night. So I do think they'll be a lot more front-footed and a lot more aggressive.
"We have to be ready from the start. I think the spaces that showed up the other night might not show up again, so we'll have to find different ways to try break them down and just be ready for them all guns blazing."
One area where she expects Poland to be much improved is in the switch from defence to attack.
"Poland are really strong in transition. I don't think they showed that the other night. There were some times we benefited from them making mistakes and not taking advantage of the transition," the 29-year-old said.
"So, when I say I don't think they played their best, that's one of the big things is they have a lot more quality than what they showed, especially in those transitions."
But Connolly sees a platform for Ireland to build and improve on a solid away day. For one, attacking forays have been more fruitful in recent months.
Starting with the 4-2 first leg win over Belgium at Aviva Stadium in the Nations League play-offs last October, the Irish side have managed three-goal hauls in two of the next five fixtures, including in Gdansk.
They have also not been held scoreless in that six-game run even against elite sides like France and the Netherlands.
"That that's a big thing that even us, (what) we've seen as a massive improvement is getting those shots on target and creating those chances," Connolly told RTÉ Sport.
"That just goes down to trust. I think, since Carla's come in, we've done our formation, we're trying to build, and we're trying to kind of get that style of play. The more we've gone into different camps, the more we get more comfortable with each other and we're just comfortable moving the ball and playing.
"You saw that the other night, where people were making the right decisions and trying to draw pressure and playing out of pressure and kind of creating those two-v-one chances. That's credit to the staff and credit to the players in all kind of buying into the process, and now you can see that we're creating the chances against the top teams in the world.
"Obviously that helps us with League A, when it just comes down to those fine margins and (if) we create enough chances, we can get the goals."
While the women's senior team are no strangers to Aviva Stadium since making their debut there in front of a record 35,994 attendance in September 2023, Tallaght Stadium has often been their main fortress.
However, Connolly feels they have adapted fully to the larger surroundings ahead of what will be their sixth game at the 51,711-seater venue.
"At the start it was a big difference, obviously, going from Tallaght, that was our home for so long. I think the initial transition phase, we saw difficulties," she said.
"Obviously, it's different, the crowd size, the pitch size kind of feels bigger. But now we've played there enough times that that feels like our home now.
"Everybody's really comfortable playing there. We've had big games there. The Belgium game, obviously; back when we were trying to qualify again for the Euros, big games there.
"I don't think there's any hesitation. I think we really look forward to going to the Aviva and playing there and getting the crowd behind us, because the crowd is just as loud as the Tallaght one now. It feels like home now."
Watch Republic Ireland v Poland in FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying on Saturday from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app. Listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
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