While we may be heading to Euro 2016 after all, there remains a concern about the number of young Irish players making a breakthrough these days.
Getting to the tournament will not change that - only sound long-term investment in youth development and facilities will - but there is always the faintest chance of a late bolter into the outer reaches of the current squad.
That would require a pretty extraordinary six months of form to enter the reckoning out of the blue, but even if no non-established players make it to France next summer, potential retirements of long-serving stalwarts leave some places open for the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign and beyond.
Ahead of the new club season, we spoke to The Irish Independent and Off The Ball's football expert Daniel McDonnell about some of the Irish prospects to look out for in the levels below the Premier League, with five names under consideration back in August in the video at the bottom of the page.
But let's look at the progress of two of the names, we've spoken to Dan about recently.
Jack Byrne
The Ireland U21 international is highly-rated at parent club Manchester City, with his former academy head coach Patrick Vieira saying his "technique and first touch are excellent and he always likes to play forwards".
The 19-year-old is currently on loan in the Netherlands' top flight with SC Cambuur where he has made seven appearances so far this season, notching one assist after missing the first half dozen games through injury.
He has been fielded in central, attacking and left midfield positions so far, with five of those being starts.
According to Squawka, his pass accuracy stands at 77 per cent and the creator of one chance per match. Certainly, he is one for the future.
Tommie Hoban
When Dan spoke to us about the Watford player in June, he was still playing in the Championship. Now, he's in the Premier League but unfortunately, not playing.
Recently that has been down to a groin injury, but prior to that the defender had only made two appearances on the bench (against Manchester City and Newcastle) - and none coming off it.
The 21-year-old, who stands at 6 foot 2, was given an eight-week prognosis for hip and groin problems last month, which mean he will be out for another few weeks yet.
When he does get back, Craig Cathcart, Sebastian Prodl and Miguel Britos are ahead of him in the centre-back pecking order at Watford, but one hopes he does get a run of games at some point to stake his claim.
He was a regular last season though for the Hornets with 30 appearances in all competitions, and ex-Watford boss Slavisa Jokaovic described him as "fast and strong" last season, before going on to say: "Tommie has the capacity to learn which is good for him and for us. I believe he has improved so much in the past months. He is intelligent and knows he has big space to improve further".
Check out the videos above and below for Dan's take on some of our brighter prospects:
