New Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny says it would be "extremely special" to reach the European Championships next year.
The former Dundalk boss is already preparing for their playoff semi-final away to Slovakia this autumn, having succeeded Mick McCarthy last weekend.
Should Ireland qualify for the finals, they'd play some of their fixtures in Dublin's Aviva Stadium - and Kenny told Off The Ball that that provides an extra incentive:
"Everyone in the country wants to get to the Euros and have them in Dublin. That would be extremely special, players want to play in them and we haven't qualified for too many tournaments in recent times.
"International careers are very short and they want to have those special moments, we've a tough task in Slovakia but we must prepare accordingly and try our upmost to reach the final against Bosnia or Northern Ireland.
"If the game is in September then we'll be ready. Can I radically change everything in three or four training sessions? Probably not. But if there's five or six games to prepare then it really gives you a chance to put your stamp on things.
"I don't mean that as an implied criticism of Mick McCarthy because he's had a tremendous career as a manager and I've great respect for him and defensively we were very good. That's not just the back four, Mick had the whole team working to make sure they were very difficult to beat this year and they achieved that."
Meanwhile Kenny could raid his former side Dundalk to add Ruaidhri Higgins to his backroom team.
Higgins previously worked as an opposition analyst for the Ireland boss at Dundalk and he's been an assistant to Vinny Perth at the Lilywhites since 2018.
Former Ireland internationals Keith Andrews and Damien Duff are already part of the new-look Ireland coaching set-up as assistant managers.
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