'We know we can go toe-to-toe with the best'

On 27 March 2021, the Republic of Ireland fell to a 1-0 defeat at home in a qualifier for a major tournament. On 27 March 2023, they endured the exact same fate, only this time the result attracted more upbeat appraisals of the team's trajectory.

Two years ago, disbelief and embarrassment hit the Republic like a hammer as Luxembourg pulled off a major upset in Dublin.

Having lost their opening World Cup qualifier to Serbia, it effectively extinguished Irish hopes of reaching Qatar and put boss Stephen Kenny under severe pressure.

On Monday, the Republic suffered more heartache in front of their own fans in their opening Euro 2024 qualifier. This time, however, their mood was punctured not by embarrassment, but by frustration after coming agonisingly close to taking a point off the mighty France.

Trailing to a brilliant second-half strike from Benjamin Pavard, who capitalised on a slack Josh Cullen pass before rifling a shot past Gavin Bazunu, the Republic poured everything they had into ensuring the French endured an uncomfortable night inside a raucous Aviva Stadium.

They succeeded in that regard, but while the Republic rattled the World Cup finalists' defence, they could not beat an inspired Mike Maignan in the French goal.

Yes, in a team featuring Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann, Maignan was France's unlikely star turn, thwarting James McClean and stopping Jules Kounde from scoring an own goal before producing a spectacular flying save to beat away Nathan Collins' header.

It was a moment that left the Republic defender - and indeed the whole of a sold-out Aviva Stadium - in disbelief.

"I've watched it back and it's even worse than I thought, it's unbelievable," Collins said of Maignan's stunning 90th-minute intervention.

Given that Collins' only previous international goal came away from home, he will surely replay the moment in his head countless times over the next few days.

However, the 21-year-old centre-half was admirably unfazed as he discussed the wider significance of his side's performance as they bid to qualify for their first tournament since Euro 2016.

"Confidence-wise, we know we can go toe-to-toe with them now," the Wolves centre-half told BBC Sport Northern Ireland.

"We know we can play in this standard of game and cause problems. Today we should have nicked something. Maybe we should have won, who knows, but we know that in three months' time we have to go again.

"It's unbelievable. We've gone toe-to-toe with them. I thought we hurt them a lot and caused them a lot of frustration.

"We have to set that as the standard and build."

'We've never seen Mbappe have such a quiet night'

With France having thumped the Netherlands in their opening qualifier on Friday, Les Bleus' arrival in Dublin stirred both excitement and tension in the Irish ranks.

Much of the latter existed because of the prospect of facing Mbappe, who scored twice against the Dutch on his first match since succeeding Hugo Lloris as France captain.

Eyes were naturally drawn to the Paris St-Germain superstar on an electric night on Lansdowne Road, but the 24-year-old was outshone by Pavard and Maignan, which did not go unnoticed by Republic boss Kenny.

"We have watched France's last 20 games and we've never seen Kylian Mbappe, who I voted for as the best player in the world, have such a quiet night. I've never seen it, never seen it," said Kenny.

"We didn't concede any chances up to the goal and that was disappointing. The substitutes made an impact and we finished strongly in the last 15 minutes.

"Our goalkeeper made an excellent save, but the save from Nathan Collins was out of this world, one of those incredible saves, so we're disappointed not to get at least a point."

To add to Irish frustration, they must now wait until mid-June before getting another chance to put points on the board, with a trip to Greece and a home match against Gibraltar.

While getting a result against France - who have played in two World Cup finals since they last played the Republic in May 2018 - would have been considered a major bonus, there is an onus on the Irish players now to emulate this level of performance and avoid slip-ups against the weaker teams in the group.

That is not lost on Collins, who played in last year's Nations League loss to Armenia.

"We've set the standard for ourselves now. If we drop that it's only on us," he said.

"It's the level the players have set and we need to keep driving that.

"I think you've seen it so many times against the big teams. We've put in performances and people get shocked by how well we do and how we hurt teams.

"But it's not just the big teams we need to perform against. We have to have that standard against the so-called smaller nations, who are obviously very high quality as well."

Collins was part of a youthful Irish side on Monday, one that had seven players aged 25 or younger in the starting line-up, including much-hyped Brighton striker Evan Ferguson (the youngest at 18).

And given the age profile of Kenny's squad, there is a temptation to argue that this is a Republic team for the future. Collins, however, is having none of that.

"You can say about the future, but we're trying to create memories now," he said.

"We're trying to create something ourselves. It doesn't matter about the age. If you're good enough, you're old enough as they say.

"I have a lot of belief in this team and these players and I believe we can go again."