While the doom and gloom surrounding the Irish football team was difficult to avoid after two bitterly disappointing qualifier results earlier this month, it's clear that the match-going fans still have faith in the boys in green.
Ireland will need to beat Moldova and get a win away in Cardiff next month to have any hope of making the playoffs, but thankfully Martin O'Neill's men will be trying to get that result in front of a full away allocation, and there will be even more Irish fans descending on Cardiff for the occasion.
In an update on the ticketing information for the Wales game, the FAI confirmed that they received over 9,000 applications for the 3,500 tickets they have been allocated, which means that roughly 10% of the attendance in Cardiff City Stadium will be Ireland fans.
The FAI have also confirmed that they have taken time to review every application to ensure that those who have attended the most Ireland away games will be given preference.
Application inspections are ongoing with the FAI Ticketing Department undergoing an extensive process of cross-checking attendance records of each person who has applied for tickets so that regular attendees at away fixtures are catered for along with the Football Family, Supporters Clubs and Fans' Direct.
Over 9,000 applications have been received for a total of 3,500 tickets for the final match in Group D, which will be played at the Cardiff City Stadium in Cardiff - which has a total capacity of 33,280.
Applicants can expect to be notified of their status before close of business on Tuesday, September 19.
This match has been targeted since the fixtures were revealed as a possibility for a huge occasion, but considering Ireland's great start to the campaign we had all hoped that Martin O'Neill's men would be out of reach at that stage.
Instead, it's going to be one last chance to get a big result and then hope the factors out of our control fall into place.
It's a big ask, but there will be thousands of Irish in Wales to support our lads, and you can be sure there is going to be one hell of a party regardless of the result.
