Clear on top with 10 points, four ahead of Wales, with home advantage on their side and the wriggle room of knowing a draw would keep the show firmly on the road, Ireland should nominally be regarded as favourites going into this one. But the devil resides in other details, most notably the unfortunate sequence of suspension and injury blows which has robbed Martin O’Neill of some of his most valuable, first-choice players.

In terms of Ireland’s ability to pose problems for Wales, the key absentees are Wes Hoolahan and Robbie Brady. To fully appreciate how much their influence might be missed, one only has consider their individual contributions to some of the most significant game-changing moments for Ireland under O’Neill’s watch: The away goal in Germany, the away goal in Bosnia, the goal against Sweden, the winner against Italy, the assists in Moldova and Austria.

Not that these games were one, or even two-man shows, with Ireland they never are. And if there are grounds for confidence that, despite the absentees in midfield and at the back, the Irish can pull off another big win on the road to Russia tonight, then it lies in the fact that, as a collective, this is a team which, with O’Neill at the helm, has repeatedly found ways to exceed expectations.

This was the phenomenon Seamus Coleman was keen to tap into at yesterday’s pre-match press conference.

“When the manager came in we were probably in a sticky spell but slowly but surely we started to get that confidence and started to win games, some very big games, going back to Shane Long’s goal against Germany and then the night in Bosnia and the Italy game,” he said. “All those games make you come in thinking you can beat most teams that you play. That’s definitely the case.

“I’ve said before that the Euros brought us all closer together. We’re a good team with good players and we’re playing good football. And we’re top of the group. There is a lot of talk about Wales but I think they’re going to be in for a game as well.”

For “a lot of talk about Wales” read “a lot of talk about Bale”; there have been times this week when the uninitiated might have thought tonight was a game of 11 against one.

Yesterday, Coleman recalled coming up against Bale when the galactico played for Spurs, and having to double up with Everton team-mate Phil Neville in a bid to keep him quiet. But he was much more concerned with talking about how Ireland must go about their business tonight.

“We’re a team that’s played against good players in the past,” the Donegal man pointed out. “When we played Sweden in the summer, all the talk was about Zlatan, and it’s quite similar this time. We were getting asked the same questions about certain players in the summer, but we have another 10 players that we have to worry about. We know he’s a world-class player and we know we have to get tight in certain areas. But we can’t just focus on Gareth Bale. They have got a lot of good players — and I’m sure they will be worried about us as well.”

Martin O’Neill reported that injury doubt James McCarthy had made more progress in training yesterday but we will have to wait until an hour or so before kick-off tonight to see if the manager thinks the midfielder is ready to be thrown into the fray.

That’s when we will also learn if O’Neill is prepared to take a chance on the in-form Aiden McGeady from the start — which would be quite the statement of attacking intent — or opt to hold old twinkle-toes in reserve for later in the night.

“All he has got to do is go and look at some of the form he showed in the early stages of the Euro 2016 qualification,” said O’Neill of the resurgent Preston man. “In that sort of form, he’s devastating.”

All week, O’Neill and Roy Keane have sought to counter the media doom and gloom surrounding Ireland’s injury woes but it wasn’t only when the manager spoke yesterday of having lost “a couple of big players” that the mask slipped a bit.

To combat or overcome a Welsh side which, it ought not to be forgotten, put three past the Belgian team which put three past Ireland at the Euros, O’Neill went on to declare that, tonight on home soil, his players will have to summon nothing less than the spirit and energy of that celebrated backs to the wall victory over Italy in Lille.

“It’s not a distant memory,” he said. “Some of the players who performed that evening can call upon the experience again and go for it. I think we will have to produce a performance like that against Wales. I think the players are ready for it.”

On and off the field, the increasingly inspirational Seamus Coleman certainly is. Asked if he might exchange hellos or handshakes with Everton team-mate and Welsh captain Ashley Williams in the tunnel before kick-off, the skipper offered a stony-faced “no”. “I’ll have the green shirt on not the blue shirt,” he said. “I’ve got to know Ashley quite well at club level. He’s a great lad but he’s a winner as well. But once I’ve got that green shirt on, that’s all I care about. Fully focused.”

Game face on. Game on.