After performing a somewhat successful reboot on Saturday night, the next step for Ireland is to beat Wales on Tuesday night in the Aviva Stadium if any talk of a recovery can be taken seriously.
Given it's just a month since the Martin O'Neill and his team were humiliated in Cardiff, talk of a victory does seem a little far fetched. What though if Wales are without their two best players?
Gareth Bale has already been ruled out of the game, having returned to Real Madrid after Wales were themselves on the end of the 4-1 defeat to Spain on Thursday.
Now, it has emerged that Aaron Ramsey is set to miss the game, with the Welsh FA confirming he has returned home "for family reasons."
SQUAD UPDATE | DIWEDDARIAD CARFAN
Daniel James has been called up to the senior team from the under 21's this morning.
Aaron Ramsey will no longer travel with the squad to Dublin due to family reasons.#TogetherStronger pic.twitter.com/lYWOUUrI5M— Wales 🏴 (@Cymru) October 15, 2018
Wales will also be without two of the their young stars who started in Cardiff. Chelsea's 18-year-old Ethan Ampadu injured his knee in that defeat to Spain while central defender Chris Mepham is also out of the game.
It's a massive boost for Ireland ahead of what is a must win game if Ireland are to avoid to relegation in the Nations League. We currently sit bottom of League B, Group 4 with one point from two games.
Without Ramsey and Bale, Ireland will feel that Wales have been brought to their level somewhat and most of their attacking threat has been nullified. However, as was shown against Denmark on Saturday night, Ireland's toothless attack and inability to create chances are perhaps the team's biggest problems and that's a problem unlikely to be solved by Ramsey's and Bale's absence.
Wales, however, are seriously depleted, and will look a very different team than the one who dismantled Ireland in Cardiff and, if nothing else, the Irish players will now believe that victory is possible tomorrow night.
