Stephen Kenny's Republic Of Ireland begin their campaign to qualify for the 202 Qatar World Cup this week.
In the grand scheme of things, it's a bit part that's been handed to the Boys in Green who face Portugal in Lisbon on Wednesday. Nobody is expecting anything other than a positive result for Portugal, and Kenny's task will be made all the more challenging by the fact the 2016 Euro's Champions will have a buzzing Ronaldo in their lineup.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner is all but officially confirmed to be back on the books at Man United and will be looking to impress ahead of his return to English league football.
Speaking ahead of the game, Kenny stressed that sitting back to defend for 90 minutes just won't cut it, as inviting Portugal on is a recipe for disaster, "I think we have to go and be positive in our approach and definitely, it's a challenge...but a lot of our players are looking forward to showing what they've got"
One of those players is Cappoquin's own Jayson Molumby who has been named in Kenny's squad and is expected to start this week against the Navegadores. Molumby made his international debut in the 1-nil defeat to Finland last September at the Aviva Stadium and has now made nine appearances in all.
The midfielder will have his work cut out for him this week, for some obvious reasons which don't require elaboration here. Speaking this past weekend, Molumby says that the squad recognises the enormity of the challenge they face in the Portuguese capital, but that shouldn't be a reason to be downbeat.
Obviously, it's difficult for everyone because maybe we'll get judged a little bit more because people have high expectations, and we have high expectations ourselves. We believe that we're good enough to be on this international level and to be able to get wins for Ireland.
The former Railway Athletic player will find one major difference in this international window compared to previous outings, for the first time since the pandemic began, fans are once again back in the stands proper.
Everyone's got that buzz back, and the anticipation of playing in front of a packed - or semi-packed - stadium is what you dream of as a kid.
That's where you want to be and that's what I've been hard working towards since I was a little lad. Obviously, we haven't been playing in front of a packed stadium with international crowds - I think we had Finland or Hungary with a few supporters, but nothing to this extreme. I'm just really looking forward to it, and it'll probably sink in a little more after coming off the pitch.
Football is a crazy game. I've probably realised that myself in the last year, it really is a crazy game and anything can happen in football. We're really determined to go out and put on good performances in the next three games, and we're well aware that it's down to us as players to go out and perform.
