After Thursday night's 1-0 victory over Finland, Ireland can start planning for 2025 with a Nations League play-off to negotiate ahead of the vital World Cup 2026 qualifying campaign.
Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side avoided automatic relegation to League C, however, their second-tier berth is not yet secured, and Ireland will have to negotiate a two-legged play-off to maintain their status for the next edition of the competition.
That particular contest has been scheduled to kick off the next calendar year and will take up the international window in March, which means that the World Cup qualifiers cannot begin before June at the earliest.
All will be revealed at next month’s draw, which takes place in Zurich on 13 December, and will place Ireland in a group of either four or five teams, with the winner securing safe passage to the USA-Canada-Mexico co-hosted tournament.
Permutations point to a four-team group, which would see Ireland in a six-game shootout, not too dissimilar to the current Nations League format.
The manager admitted following the Finland game, and with England to prepare for, that he hasn’t given it enough thought as to where his preferences lie in terms of the vital World Cup games, but he did acknowledge that Ireland are traditionally not great in June.
"I haven't given it enough thought," said Hallgrimsson, speaking to the media after the game at Aviva Stadium.
"We just need to focus on what will happen, but now we will probably have two games home and away in March and two qualifiers in June if we have a group of five.
"June is always difficult for Ireland because we have so many players in the Championship finishing early May, and that's a long spell without games.
"Maybe playing one game in March and one game in June would have been better. Hopefully we are just in a group of four teams."
Should that be the case, the 2025 schedule would mimic the current year with three consecutive double-headers from September to November.
And that would certainly suit Hallgrimsson, allowing Ireland to work the summer schedule around friendly fixtures to plan properly for the autumn qualifiers.
"Yeah, I would be happy with that," said the manager. "It gives us probably two friendlies in June, or more friendlies in June."
Hallgrimsson admitted after the game that he was not overly impressed by his side’s performance in the Finland victory, saying that he was "not jumping for joy". However, he is adamant that there are positives to take into the future, most notably the application of the side and their energy levels throughout the tough contest at Lansdowne Road.
"We had energy for 90 minutes," said Hallgrimsson. "It was not sloppiness and then all in. I think we had energy.
"We were missing a bit of tactical smartness or game management, whatever you like to call it.
"But it was good energy from start to finish and when you win your duels and have players working hard, it always give you a chance to win matches."
Hallgrimsson hopes that his team will maintain that momentum into the England game and will remind his players of the positives from the Finland fixture ahead of the trip to Wembley.
"I think we need to build on the good things from this game," said the manager.
"I think there were really good moments in possession. When we moved it, we created good opportunities, good positions, good crosses and chances.
"Playing England, for sure, we need to improve the defensive side and be more tactical than we were today.
"But yeah, it's kind of a good way to say it, go and enjoy playing and give it a good game.
"Coming from a win, I think we have nothing to fear and play like in the second half against Greece and Finland."
Hallgrimsson was asked about goalscorer Evan Ferguson, and while he agreed that his winner will help ease the expectation that has been placed on the young striker's shoulders, he still pleaded for patience to allow the player to develop at his own pace.
"Goals for goalscorers always helps you, but one goal doesn't change his trajectory and he is improving step by step," said Hallgrimsson.
"Probably he feels it's too slow, but we have seen in the numbers that he is doing more and more and you can see he is getting more minutes at his club. So we're just patient. But he has good quality.
"It's a big pressure on young shoulders that he needs to carry this team, we just need to share that load with him."
So now Ireland go to London with no Nations League pressure and no fear following the win, which sets up a renewal of rivalries that the players can embrace and enjoy the special occasion to play on the hallowed turf of the iconic Wembley Stadium.
"I never played at Wembley," said the manager. "It's always an honour to play in places like Wembley.
"It's always an honour to play the top teams in the world and they are one of the best teams in the world. That helps your growth when you play the best teams.
"You are up against the best individual talents in football, and they will expose your weakness. In relation to growing and improving, it's important to play teams like this."
Watch England v Republic of Ireland on Sunday from 4pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary with Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
