Mark Kennedy gets the chance to prove that he is still capable of making a significant contribution to the Republic of Ireland team in this evening's meeting with Sweden at Lansdowne Road.
Together with David Connolly, Kennedy benefits from Mick McCarthy's decision to rest Robbie Keane and Damien Duff for Ireland's first meeting with Sweden in 28 years.
Kennedy and Connolly will hope to convince McCarthy that the lack of a high club profile, ought not militate unduly against their prospects of first team status with Ireland.
For Kennedy, in particular, his first start in the team since the World Cup play-off against Belgium in Brussels almost 18 months ago, is a timely lift at the end of a troubled season in which he has warmed the bench at Wimbledon more often than he cares to remember.
A move from Liverpool offered the promise of the regular first team football that he craved but in the event, he soon discovered that he was exchanging one unhappy base for another. Joe Kinnear's match plan effectively decreed that there was only one role on offer to him and in competition with Michael Hughes, the Northern Ireland player, Kennedy usually discovered that it was unavailable.
"Obviously, it's not a very happy situation for me for you need to be playing regularly at club level to have a chance of getting into Ireland's team," he said.
"I had a long chat with Joe Kinnear about my position some time ago and he promised to come back to me. Unfortunately, he then got ill and until such time as he returns to the club, it would be unfair of me to say anything more."
For Connolly, too, the occasion is rich with opportunity. Denied a platform to indulge his predatory traits for Wolves by Robbie Keane's impressive form, he is now faced with the uninviting prospect of returning to Feyenoord when his loan period expires at the end of the season.
Given his earlier tribulations in Rotterdam, it's unlikely that his stay there will be unduly extended.
"It's a chance for me to show clubs that I'm still playing well," he said. "Mick McCarthy has always been good to me and I like to think that I'll be able to repay him now."
Connolly's front line partnership with Niall Quinn will need to be functioning to full potential to trouble a Swedish defence which, in four games in Group Five of the European championship, has conceded just one goal.
"They may not be Brazil," says McCarthy, "but when it comes to organisation, they're up there with the best. They also play some good football and when you put the two together, you end up with a very competitive team.
"It's unfortunate that we don't have all our best players here but I prefer to look on it as a chance for some of those on the fringe, to prove themselves against highly credible opposition."
The defections, it has to be said, are not all from the one team. No less than McCarthy, Tommy Soderberg, the Swedish manager, has had to yield to the self interests of English club managers and replace Magnus Hedman (Coventry), Fredrik Lungberg (Arsenal) and Johan Mjallby (Celtic), all of whom shared in last month's 1-0 win over Poland.
Additionally, he must replace the Bologna striker, Kennet Andersson whose strike rate of 30 goals from 68 international appearances, stands comparison with the best in Europe. Andersson arrived with the squad on Monday but was withdrawn yesterday because of a sight fitness problem.
"He could have played at a push but at this stage of the season, it is better that he is given a full chance to recover for our big game against England in June," he said.
If Andersson's absence eases the burden on Kenny Cunningham and Gary Breen at the centre of the home defence, there is still ample threat in the new formation of Hendrik Larsson and the German based Jorgen Pettersson.
It's a measure of the competition for first team places in Ireland's team that Steve Staunton in his 78th international appearance, has almost as much to prove as the debutante, Steve Carr in the other full back position. Nearing the end of a difficult season at Liverpool, Staunton now needs a big performance.
Carr, long regarded as the best of our uncapped players, will be assigned the task of stopping Manchester United's Jesper Blomqvist.
In the absence of Roy Keane, Denis Irwin and Ian Harte it is difficult to escape the conclusion that Ireland may be headed for only their second home defeat since McCarthy took charge of the team more than three years ago. Yet if Mark Kinsella and Alan McLoughlin can secure midfield and Jason McAteer rules the right flank, it's possible that we may have cause for an improbable celebration.
Republic Of Ireland: S Given (Newcastle): S Carr (Tottenham), K Cunningham (Wimbledon), G Breen (Coventry), S Staunton (Liverpool): J McAteer (Blackburn), M Kinsella (Charlton), A McLoughlin (Portsmouth), M Kennedy (Wimbledon), D Connolly (Wolves), N Quinn (Sunderland).
Sweden: M Kihlstedt (SK Brann): P Kamark (Leicester City), A Jakobsson (Helsingborgs), J Bjorklund (Valencia), T Lucic (Bologna); M Svensson (Viking), S Swartz (Valencia), D Andersson (Bari), J Blomqvist (Man Utd): H Larsson (Celtic), J Pettersson (Borussia Monchengladbach).
