Stephen Kenny believes his Ireland players will put their 2020 horror show behind them and attack the World Cup with all guns blazing.
This scoreless draw with Bulgaria means they avoid Nations League relegation - but they miss out on second seed status for the World Cup campaign.
Ireland will be third seeds in next month’s draw, meaning qualification for Qatar 2022 will be even more difficult.
But Kenny said: “Considering what the players have had to deal with, their attitude has been terrific. They are proper men.
“I think morale will be very high in March once they see the draw for the World Cup and there is anticipation of going to play in those games.
“A lot of players have really put themselves forward and given me food for thought - there is genuine competition for places now.
“We have a real squad for the World Cup qualifiers in March.
“Those qualifiers are really something exciting to look forward to and we’ll be all the better for what we learned in the last two windows - myself and the coaching staff too.
“We have a lot to look forward to in March once we finalise the qualifying group next month.”
Kenny continued: “We used the Nations League to blood a lot of players, some by design and some by an inordinate amount of players ruled out for various reasons.
“The players have had to endure what they have had to endure, dealing with Covid issues day after day and it's very unsettling for them and their families.
“James McCarthy's father unfortunately passed away and we’ve lost players through injury and concussion and Adam Idah with a knee injury. There were a lot of issues.”
Kenny wasn’t happy with how his patched-up team ployed in the first-half at Aviva Stadium but felt the second-half offered promise.
And he feels the likes of Idah, Troy Parrott, Jayson Molumby, Aaron Connolly, Jason Knight, Ryan Manning and Ronan Curtis will be World Cup contenders in March.
“The team that wasn't available tonight was stronger than the team that was, and that's not being disparaging,” said Kenny.
“So many front line players were not available but having said that some have really put themselves in contention.
“Considering what they had to deal with, the attitude has been terrific and morale will be high in March."
But Kenny added: “We need to win games, we’re under no illusions about that. The whole situation has been unusual and unprecedented.
“Nobody really knows what we've had to deal with to be honest with you. It’s been challenging for everyone but the players have always given everything.”
