While Ireland have become accustomed to playing in qualifier playoffs, the upcoming two legs against Denmark are actually the Boys in Green's first in a World Cup setting since the infamous tie against France for a place in the 2010 World Cup.
The previous two against Estonia and Bosnia were for Euro 2012 and 2016 respectively and reaching major tournaments did allay the pain of missing out on 2010 following the controversial second leg against France in Paris in November 2009.
Richard Dunne joined Kevin Kilbane and Joe Molloy on the show tonight and given that Dunne and Kevin's former Ireland team-mate Damien Duff had been discussing the build-up to Paris '09, the duo shared their own pre-match memories and why there was such a disparity in approach from a meek first leg to a brilliant second leg.
Duff had recalled rousing moments at the back of the team bus as the lads got the metaphorical inner fires burning:"Listen, it happened down the back of the bus, where all the senior players sit, when we were going to training the night before the match and then on the way to the match. It was proper Paddies off the street stuff, just going, 'Let's have a crack off these'".
France's Alou Diarra with Keith Andrews of Ireland ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
After discussing the moments on the bus, another spark was also brought up by Dunne and Kevin involving a remark made by a France player towards Keith Andrews which got the latter riled up in the first leg.
"Keith Andrews was involved in a bit of a spat in the first leg," said Kevin.
Dunne recalled the France player involved as Alou Diarra, formerly of Bordeaux and Liverpool among others, as having a go at Andrews verbally along the lines of "you're crap".
"Keith had lost it. So there was a needle going into that second game as well. I think Keith maybe wanted to lay a bit on and Glenn wanted to lay a bit on in midfield," Kevin continued.
Andrews was clearly incensed as Dunne recalled: "Keith came in and was, 'I can't believe that' and it sort of took something like that for us."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
