Okay, it was “redress” rather than revenge he opted for and, actually, it’s probably the more appropriate word too, since the stakes tonight have been raised, not just by what happened 11 months ago in Dublin but, even more pertinently, by what happened last month in Cardiff.

And while O’Neill likes to point out that a lot of water passed under the bridge between those two games, there can be no getting away from the reality that the worrying implications of two such heavy competitive defeats in succession have effectively turned this Nations League match into the first of two judgment nights, in the court of popular opinion, on his stewardship of the national team.

Which is not to lose sight of the fact that the manager and his players have already taken one modest but encouraging step on the rehabilitation path with that 1-1 draw away to Poland. But even O’Neill was prepared to concede yesterday that, in terms of shaping his thoughts on how best to approach tonight’s test, there is a limit to the lessons he can afford to draw on, and apply, from the match in Wroclaw.

“It was, after all, a friendly game, it wasn’t a competitive match,” he said. “It gave us an opportunity to try out a few things, although it wasn’t the first time we’ve gone three at the back. But if some performances have been good then, of course, it gives you something to chew on, something to think about. Really, what we’re trying to do is work out the system that best suits the players that are available to us and the players that are likely to have some sort of impact in the game.”

This gets to the heart of probably the biggest decision the manager has to make ahead of tonight’s match: whether to revert to Ireland’s customary four-man defence or stick with the three-at-the-back formation which, for the first time and with no little success, he deployed for a full 90 minutes against the Poles.

That decision will, in turn, impact significantly on his team selection, not least, one suspects, in determining if Ireland’s most in-form Premier League player, Matt Doherty, finally gets to make his long-awaited competitive debut.

Apart from confirming that his companion at yesterday’s press conference, Jeff Hendrick, will be in the starting line-up - “because he’s one of our major players and he’s ready to go” - O’Neill, as usual, was giving very little away about his general intentions.

But, for those endeavouring to read the runes, it was noticeable that, without prompting, he made a point of mentioning Doherty “playing so well at wing-back for Wolves” when discussing his options.

“I think, initially, club form is very important,” he went on. “It’s very important, first of all for someone to be playing in their club team, to be playing regularly, then also to be playing well and then to be playing at a high level. All of those things are very, very important. We don’t have the luxury throughout the squad of players playing every single week for their teams, even in Championship football, so we have to make adjustments. But, of course, in an ideal world it would be great if all our players were playing in the big league and playing pretty regularly.”

The absence of skipper Seamus Coleman is, of course, a blow, but one that, it’s fair to say, is more than offset by the loss to Denmark of their star man Christian Eriksen. And while, from a home perspective, O’Neill might also rue the absence of experienced heads like Robbie Brady, James McCarthy, Jon Walters and Stephen Ward, the availability again of James McClean and Shane Long can only be welcomed for a game in which, whatever about the tactical and technical nous required, Ireland will need as many of their most passionate and battled-hardened representatives as possible on the pitch to set the right tone from the start.

The Danish media present at yesterday’s press conference seemed almost exclusively concerned with re-excavating the ructions in the Irish camp in the summer rather than revisiting the scene of last year’s crime on the pitch at the Aviva but O’Neill was once again happy to reaffirm that all is now well between Roy Keane and Harry Arter though, naturally, he stopped short of giving any indication as to whether the Cardiff City man’s re-integration will extend to inclusion in tonight’s starting line-up.

What he did make clear, however, is his belief that it is up to his team to reward the Aviva faithful with a performance which really does make the most of home advantage, something which has not always been the case under his watch.

“Sometimes, it can happen that you have home games where you don’t pick up the points and it puts a lot of pressure on trying to win away from home which we were able to do (in the World Cup campaign),” he said. “In fact, we didn’t lose a game away from home. But the previous campaign, in the Euros, certainly in my time here and before that, I don’t think the crowd have needed re-energising. We’ve had some terrific nights here and we’re going to have a really decent crowd again, so I don’t think the fans have deserted the team by any stretch of the imagination. I think the fans have been really supportive of the team. It’s up to us now on the field of play to do something about it.”