It's rare enough for the Republic of Ireland to find itself cast as a footballing Goliath taking on a pesky minnow, writes Mary Hannigan at Lansdowne Road.
Brian Kerr's team, like every Irish one before it, is infinitely more at ease when the roles are reversed, and so it proved last night at Lansdowne Road when they only managed a modest 2-0 win over the Faroe Islands in their World Cup qualifier.
However, with eight points after four matches, last night's result was still enough to leave the Republic on top of group four, with their next game in March against Israel.
There was also some consolation in the performance when Robbie Keane finally became the leading Irish goalscorer of all time, passing the record he shared with Niall Quinn (21), with a penalty after 14 minutes and a second goal 18 minutes later.
That, though, was to be the end of the scoring. And more was expected. After all, football's world governing body, FIFA, assures us that its rankings don't lie: the Faroe Islands come in at 135 on the list, behind Fiji and Lesotho, just ahead of Madagascar and Tajikistan, and 121 places below Ireland.
The Faroes team, we're always reminded, is comprised largely of carpenters, electricians and postmen, who hail from islands where the most famous residents are not footballing "megastars", but puffins. But Irish teams prefer when they're the all-yapping terrier-like David, snapping at the ankles of an indignant Goliath. Like in Paris last weekend.
The tried and tested formula for qualifying for tournaments remains: win your home games and pick up the odd point on your travels. Kerr's team has done just that, beating Cyprus and the Faroe Islands at home, drawing with Switzerland and France away. So far so good for the Green Goliaths.
SportsThursday: pages 22-27